RSS is all the fashion

I've been away on my holidays so I'm only just managing to sneak in on the very last day of the current Ready Steady Stamp challenge. Nefertiti has set the ingredients and they're quite tricky!

If I'm honest, I probably made it even trickier by deciding that I would like to make an ATC!

The embellie made out of punched shapes was my biggest challenge as I don't own very many punches so my options were limited.

The instruction was that the embellie had to be made by using the punch a different way (so not a flower from a flower punch, a butterfly from a butterfly punch etc). My little flower is made with hearts punched out of tissue paper and stuck to a circle in a couple of overlapping layers to make fluffy petals. I pushed a velvet brad through the middle to finish it off. I found that punching through six layers of tissue paper at once was the way to get a clean shape (and it saved time, too!).



For the fabric, I stamped the ladies on a piece of silk, coloured the dresses and then stuck the piece to some double sided tape sheet before cutting out just the dresses. I stuck that piece over the same image stamped on plain card and coloured with Copics. I hope you can see the texture and sheen of the silk on this detail shot.

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Haute Couture set (All Things Considered line - if you're in the UK, Bubbly Funk is now stocking this and other CHF sets {here})

Paper:
Simply Smooth White
Simply Linen Black
White tissue paper

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukinkeo (Graphite B lack)

Other:
Silk fabric
Copic markers
Sequins
Seed beads
Heart punch
Velvet brad
Double sided tape sheet (look out for 151 brand in your local £1 shop if you're in the UK!)

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget there's a new RSS challenge tomorrow!

Ready, steady.... stamp!

It's challenge number 19 already over on Ready Steady Stamp. Nefertiti has set some tough ingredients for this one! If you fancy playing along, remember that the rules now make only three items mandatory if you really get stuck with all five. There's an extra incentive to try hard with this one though - there's the chance of a prize on offer if you manage all of them!

Those who know me will probably not be surprised to hear that I struggled more with the inclusion of pink than the rubber - I managed to sneak it in with the stitching! I decided "M" should be for mother and chose a sentiment that puts the emphasis on the word through the typography. I dry brushed gesso onto watercolour paper and spritzed with a home made glimmer mist for the background. Gesso acts as a resist so you get some subtle but interesting patterns from this technique. The rubber is a short offcut of rubber cord that forms a dimensional border between the green and black panels - I found gel Superglue stuck it down well and I didn't have to hold it in place for too long waiting for it to set. The card base is light purple Bazzill and the stitching is deep pink. I couldn't find a pearl or brad in the right kind of colour so I painted a Dew Drop with some Lilac Precious Metal paint which was a good match for the base colour.

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Freesia flower
Mother's Day Centers (Mona Lisa Moments line)

Paper:
Bazzill
Simply Linen black (CHF)
Textured watercolour

Ink:
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Juniper reinker)
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)

Other:
Perfect Pearls by Ranger (Patina Green)
Dew Drop by Robin's egg
Rubber cord
Precious Metal Paint by Viva Decor (Lilac)
Sewing machine and thread
Corner Chomper

Thanks for stopping by!

Je sais qu'il ya beaucoup de participantes françaises pour les challenge RSS - si vous voulez me laisser un commentaire, mais vous n'aimez pas le faire en Anglais, s'il vous plaît n'hésitez pas à le dire en Français! Je ne le parle pas bien, mais c'est OK pour la compréhension de commentaires court. Merci de votre visite!

Which finger did he bite?

Yikes, I don't usually post twice in one day -sorry- but I just realised that somebody stole an entire week so today is the last day to play with the current Ready Steady Stamp challenge! Tricky one this although the rules have changed and you can now play with three or more of the ingredients if you don't have the materials (or inspiration!) to manage all five.

It was the oval that nearly did for me and I was about ready to settle for four out of five when I was struck by the idea of doing oval bubbles rather than circular ones!

So here it is, something a bit different for me!

The fish is printed on acetate and painted with Viva paints on the back so he has a nice shimmer but all the detail is retained. The acetate is folded and stuck at the back of the card. I traced the second wavy line onto it and trimmed it so it doesn't go all the way down to the bottom of the card as it seemed to lie better that way.

Numbers and shells are stamped and the lines, wording and bubbles are done freehand. I used Glossy Accents to fill in the two small areas at the base of the card and sprinkled dry builders' sand on there.

I'm hoping the RSS police will look kindly on me - I have printed an image from my computer as well as stamping. I'm hoping that "no digi" means no "digital stamps" and that a vintage text book illustration will sneak in under the wire.

Stamps:
Seaside Clear Art Stamps by Crafty Secrets
A&P Numbers by Ma Vinci's Reliquary

Paper:
Overhead transparency for inkjet printer
White

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Vintage Photo)

Other:
Fish image from Karen's Whimsy
Copic multiliner
Copic markers
Precious Metal paint by Viva Decor (Mother of Pearl, Blue Azure, Lilac)
Glossy Accents
Sand

Thanks for stopping by!

Je sais qu'il ya beaucoup de participantes françaises pour les challenge RSS - si vous voulez me laisser un commentaire, mais vous n'aimez pas le faire en Anglais, s'il vous plaît n'hésitez pas à le dire en Français! Je ne le parle pas bien, mais c'est OK pour la compréhension de commentaires court. Merci de votre visite!

Measure of time

I managed to make time to play along with Ready Steady Stamp's current challenge. Here are the required five ingredients. I was struggling a bit with the numbers and then remembered I had some printed ruler twill that's been in my stash forever! The rest came from there and as I did it I realised that it fits this week's Sunday Stamper as well. I guess Roman Numerals should count for numbers too so my clocks are doubling my number quota!

The base for my project is an empty chocolate box. One advantage of hubby travelling is that he often buys me nice choccies at the airport. The added bonus of that is that the boxes are usually really sturdy which makes them perfect for decorating later! A quick covering with a couple of coats of gesso and you're ready to roll. I stamped the sides of the lid by putting my inked stamp face up on the desk and pressing the lid down onto it - you can get your fingers inside and make sure you get good contact that way.

I watched a video tutorial a few days ago for making faux suede carnations. They remind me of an extreme version of the "sloppy poppies" that Kathy and others have been doing for a while and I thought it would be fun to have a go as the 3D element required for RSS. A good excuse to abuse a piece of card stock and get a pretty result at the end!

Here's a close-up of how mine turned out. The video is here if you'd like it - leave Mary a note if you liked it, she's just getting going with the video tutorials and likes to know how she's doing!

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Time to Stamp (Rummage Bin line)

Paper:
Simply Smooth Vanilla
Baby pink (Prism Papers)
Empty chocolate box
Corrugated packaging card

Ink:
Stazon by Tsukineko (Timber Brown)
Tim Holtz Distress by Ranger (Vintage Photo)

Other:
Circle Nestabilities by Spellbinder (I used the second size up in the Classic Circles Large set)
Labels Nine Nestabilities by Spellbinder (trimmed so just the deep bracket was left)
Printed twill
Brad
Gesso
Copic markers (to colour the leaves and tint the edges if the carnation)

Thanks for stopping by!

RSS with stamina required!

The new challenge at Ready Steady Stamp requires some stamina - it's spread out over the next four challenges in the run up to Christmas and we're building a project as we go! We have an imposed shape (inverted triangle) and we need to pick a colour scheme for this first one that we carry across the other weeks. At the end, we'll link our triangles together to make a Christmas banner. Here are the ingredients this week:

I've picked black, gold, ivory and red as my colours - we'll see how the proportions of each change over the weeks!

I had a bit of a nightmare photographing this for some reason, I hope you get the idea! My triangle is about 4" across the top and 6" from the top to the tip of the point. The cardinal is cut out and popped up on some foam tape and I added some tiny star brads to the embossed swirls - they came to me as part of a swap so I'm afraid I have no idea of the maker.

I added some Spica glitter pen over the wing and crest of the cardinal for some subtle shimmer.

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Swirl from Beautiful (Rummage Bin line)
Evergreen Holiday (All Things Considered line)

Paper:
Black
Cryogen white

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Detail gold embossing powder
Mini star brads
Nail art gems
Perfect Pearls by Ranger (Antique Gold from the Patina kit)
Krylon Leafing Pen (Pale Gold)
Glossy Accents (dotted on for the cardinal's eye)
Sewing machine and thread
Copic Spica glitter pen (red)
Foam tape

I'm not sure how they'll join together yet so I haven't punched any holes or anything - the top edge looks a little plain to me at the moment but I'm hanging fire until I see how the whole thing shapes up before I add anything!

Je sais qu'il ya beaucoup de participantes françaises pour les challenge RSS - si vous voulez me laisser un commentaire, mais vous n'aimez pas le faire en Anglais, s'il vous plaît n'hésitez pas à le dire en Français! Je ne le parle pas bien, mais c'est OK pour la compréhension de commentaires court. Merci de votre visite!

Thanks for stopping by!

Skinny snowflakes!

It's Ready Steady Stamp time again and I didn't have any ingredient issues this time so I'm playing along (couldn't find my hessian last time - frustrating as I'd only used it a couple of days earlier!).

Here are the ingredients for RSS8 - nice ones, I think!

I've never done a skinny so that made a nice change. I went for totally simple treatment on that bit and thought it would be fun to make a fairly modern looking card with a vintage style stamp set so The Night Before Christmas got an airing (OK, I only managed the snowflake and sentiment but still!).

I used silver metallic thread and did crazy machine stitched lines in the hope they'd look kind of like the drift lines if you're watching snow fall through a light source. Sorry the photo doesn't really pick up the metallic sparkle - it's like glitter really isn't it, you really need movement for the effect to show!

I added crackle by using Rock Candy paint on a die cut snowflake. It's very cool stuff but you do have to be patient, especially if you add a reasonably thick layer so you get bigger crackles. You can speed it up with a heat gun once it's started to crackle but that can seem like a long time coming! Impatient? Me?

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Night Before Christmas (Rummage Bin line)

Paper:
Smooth white, black, lilac (Bazzill)

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)

Other:
Snowflake Wonder dies by Spellbinder
Crystal brad (Making Memories)
Silver metallic thread
Distress Crackle paint by Ranger (Rock Candy)

Technique: machine stitching

Great challenge girls - thanks!

Thanks for stopping by today, I appreciate you taking the time!

Je sais qu'il ya beaucoup de participantes françaises pour les challenge RSS - si vous voulez me laisser un commentaire, mais vous n'aimez pas le faire en Anglais, s'il vous plaît n'hésitez pas à le dire en Français! Je ne le parle pas bien, mais c'est OK pour la compréhension de commentaires court. Merci de votre visite!

Don't worry...

...be happy! I found it impossible not to be singing in a Bobby McFerrin voice while working with this stamp set!

Trying something different here - I don't usually do "scrappy" cards. This one took long enough that I remember why and I'm not entirely convinced about the outcome but I thought I'd share anyway!

This is for Ready Steady Stamp Challenge 6 - I've been AWOL for a couple of challenges what with vacation and the enormous workpile that greeted me on my return but I was determined to get this one in before number seven goes up on Wednesday!

I used a couple of Grungeboard swirls for my masks as I didn't have anything to hand that's actually designed as a mask and I was too lazy to cut anything by hand!

The hearts are done with the rock n roll technique in two shades of pink (Salmon and Watermelon) and although the grey is minimal, it is there! (two shades of Copic on the B).

Isn't that crochet lace stamp lovely?! It was the reason I had to order this set and I think it looks really realistic embossed with white powder like this.

I pulled my usual stunt with the bee - stamp the head and legs onto the heart, then stamp the whole bee on another piece of paper and cut him out without trying to cut round the legs and antennae. Line up the cut out with the stamped head/legs and you'll have a perfect bee without trying to cut round those fiddly bits!

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Sweet Bee (Rummage Bin line)

Paper:
Smooth white
Black
Watercolour

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Versamark by Tsukineko
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Salmon and Watermelon, Juniper reinker used to spritz background)

Other:
Copic markers
Twill ribbon
Cardstock stickers (Heartwarming Vintage)
White embossing powder
Sewing machine and thread
Mini Mister
Spica glitter pen (clear - on the bee's wings)

Thanks for stopping by, hope you enjoyed the visit!

Ready, steady, stamp - week 2

I'm a bit slow off the mark with the second RSS challenge and you wouldn't believe how long this card has taken me!

I'm still not entirely happy with the balance of my finished project but I decided I'd invested enough time that I'd share anyway!

As you can see from the recipe, the challenge this time around really did have some challenging ingredients! I thought I was going to find the acetate the trickiest but in the end it was the ribbon that proved most problematic!

How hard can it possibly be to include ribbon in a design, for crying out loud? I do it all the time! After much fiddling, faffing and muttering under my breath, in the end, I just stopped treating it as ribbon and included a flat strip as a colour block.

Sun - check (negative mask and airbrushed Copics)
Yellow - check (sun and ribbon colour)
Ribbon - check (wide grosgrain)
Triangle - check (handcut corner accent)
Acetate - check (have you spotted it? It's not much but it is there!)

I made 3D wings for the bees using inkjet transparency. I stamped on the smooth side with Stazon because I found that the slightly rough side would take Spica glitter pen so I've coloured the backs of the wings with a clear one to give them extra shimmer. I attached the wings with tiny beads of Glossy Accents.

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Sweet Bee (Rummage Bin line)

Paper:
Simply Smooth
Black

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Stazon by Tsukineko (Jet Black)

Other:
Acetate
Copic markers and airbrush system
Copic Spica glitter pen (clear)
Grosgrain ribbon
Glossy Accents (as adhesive)

This is my first real play with the Copic airbrush system using a mini compressor rather than an air can. I didn't try anything too fancy but I was pleased with the way the shading on the sun came out and found it easy to handle. I don't have to worry about the waste created by air cans either!

Thanks for stopping by!

Je sais qu'il ya beaucoup de participantes françaises pour les challenge RSS - si vous voulez me laisser un commentaire, mais vous n'aimez pas le faire en Anglais, s'il vous plaît n'hésitez pas à le dire en Français! Je ne le parle pas bien, mais c'est OK pour la compréhension de commentaires court. Merci de votre visite!

Ready, steady - stamp!

Most of my UK readers will know the TV show Ready Steady Cook! There's a new fortnightly challenge blog with the same kind of format but we're not cooking, we're stamping! Each challenge features a "recipe" of five items and our stamping project must include all five items, just like the cooks must combine their five ingredients to make a meal in the cookery show. Here's the (bilingual!) list of ingredients for the first challenge. Cute is outlawed at RSS so my only domestic cat stamp was out (it's a cartoon one wearing a Santa hat) and my dogs were borderline so I decided to head for the savannah and find myself some big game! I didn't want to vandalise a book so I printed off some encyclopaedia information (from Wiki) about leopards to use for the faux batik background, making it a three column format so it would be more like the real deal. It's stamped and clear embossed with a harlequin background stamp, covered heavily with Brilliance Coffee Bean and then just lightly with Graphite Black before being ironed to remove the embossing. My third brad is a bit difficult to see as it's black on black but it is there - down at the bottom left. Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms): Cheetah (Leopard) Profile (Saturday Evening Post line) Textured Harlequin Backgrounder Everyday Petites (Mona Lisa Moments line) Paper: Premium weight copy paper Simply Smooth (CHF) Black Ink: Brilliance by Tsukineko (Coffee Bean, Graphite Black) Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Pitch Black) Other: Tag Trio dies by Spellbinder Copic markers Brads Krylon leafing pen (Pale Gold) Gold thread Fun challege (although the brads gave me a hard time!) - thanks girls! Thanks for stopping by, hope you are enjoying your weekend! Je sais qu'il ya beaucoup de participantes françaises pour les challenge RSS - si vous voulez me laisser un commentaire, mais vous n'aimez pas le faire en Anglais, s'il vous plaît n'hésitez pas à le dire en Français! Je ne le parle pas bien, mais c'est OK pour la compréhension de commentaires court. Merci de votre visite!