Elements for March

First Friday of the month is always an "elemental" challenge at Daring Cardmakers — choose at least three elements from the inspiration picture to kickstart your project.

This month's picture has a very serene quality. I decided that leant itself to sympathy cards and since they're rarely in my stash and you inevitably don't really feel like making one when you need it, I went that way.

From the inspiration picture I chose some of the colours, the feathers from the dream catchers, the macrame made me think of this embossing folder and I used twine to tie the feathers together. The feathers are gently edged with Vintage Photo ink. 

Stamps:
Big Day Today (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board
Kraft

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Vintage Photo)

Other:
Feathers
Linked circles
Nail art pearls
Crochet thread
Cropadile

Here's our inspiration this week:

Thanks for stoppig by!

Words of comfort

At Daring Cardmakers this week, we’re reflecting on the UK’s national sense of loss and mourning as we say farewell to Queen Elizabeth II. We’d like to see cards offering comfort for those experiencing loss or a difficult time in their lives.

I tend to opt for simplicity when I make sympathy cards and this is no exception, just simple stamping, inking and a tiny bit of pattern added with a stencil.  

Stamps:
Nature I (Indigo Blu)
Sentiment from Big Day Today (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass, Bundled Sage)

Other:
Cressida Stencil (Memory Box)
Corner Chomper 

Thanks for stopping by.  

Midsummer

Jenny is setting our challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week and as we've just celebrated midsummer's day, she'd like to see cards inspired by midsummer and all that nature has to offer at this time of year.

I decided to do a flower print. We have some beautiful deep magenta geraniums in our front garden so I picked a sprig from there — it's such a striking colour that walkers have been known to stop and ask if they can take a bit of a plant for their own garden!

This is one of those techniques where you never quite know what you'll get. You just sandwich the plant between two pieces of paper and run it through your die cutter to squish it. Strong colours and soft leaves/flowers tend to work best although don’t expect to get on paper what you see “in the flesh” — the deep magenta flowers gave a delicate purple print. Once you’ve squished, just leave it alone for a while to dry and then brush off the fragments of plant.

I needed a sympathy card recently and I told myself I really should have one or two in my stash as you often don't feel like making one when you need one. I thought this print looked as though it would be perfect with a sympathy sentiment so that's what I did and I now have a card for the box, ready if I need it. Of course you get two prints from one plant, I'll use the other one for something else. 

Supplies:
Watercolour paper
Flower sprig
Stitched rectangle dies (Paper Rose)
Sentiment from Big Day Today (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)
Fineline marker (dark brown)

Thanks for stopping by!

Squash and snip

The first cards I've found myself in need of post-Christmas are not necessarily the ones you want to be making - a thinking of you for a friend and a sympathy card.

I used the current Let's Squash It challenge as inspiration for both of them. The challenge is to use a folder and die cutting or fussy cutting. I actually did both for the Thinking of you card - die cut the oval panel and fussy cut part of the embossed design so I could tuck the oval into the flowers and foliage. My dad bought me this folder as a Christmas gift - it's a beauty isn't it?

I embossed some grey cardstock, highlighted the texture with some gilding wax and used a gold gel pen in the flower centres for a bit of subtle variation. 

Stamps:
A very old HOTP sentiment set

Paper:
Grey
Bristol board 

Ink:
Hero Arts shadow ink (Soft Granite)
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Flower Frame 3D folder (Nellie Snellen)
Silver Rub n Buff
Oval dies (Spellbinder)
Gold gel pen

For the sympathy card, I wanted just a little bit of embossing on a clean and simple design - I put the card in the folder and bashed one corner with a hammer (I think this was the first embossing folder I ever owned ). Then I  rubbed a tiny bit of microglaze on the raised bits and washed over with watered down Distress ink. I left the die cut feathers simple white and added a few tiny gems as it looked a bit unfinished somehow but as it’s a sympathy card I didn’t want anything too in your face.  

Stamps:

Big Day Today (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:

Bristol board 

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass)
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)

Other:
Feathers dies (Spellbinder)
Textile Texture embossing folder (Cuttlebug)
Microglaze
Nail art gems
Corner Chomper 

Thanks for stopping by - there are a couple of days left if you fancy joining in at Let's Squash It.

Rosemary is for remembrance

Dawn has set today's challenge over at Daring Cardmakers. Dawn lost her dad recently and so would like to see cards representing special thoughts of someone. It could be a card in memory of someone, or one to let someone know they’re in your thoughts.

I had a plan for this and then found I needed to make a sympathy card for a friend who just lost her mum so my plan changed. Her mum loved her garden and the birds and butterflies that visit so this set seemed perfect.

I started by brushing on a very light coverage of blue ink from bottom left and then stamped the rosemary sprig several times to create the effect of the top of a bush. I used pencils to colour since I feel I have a bit more control in the very narrow spaces of the leaves than I have with Copics - three shades of green, two of purple and white. The tips of the stamens have dots of gold gel pen to finish them off.

Stamps:
Soothing Sympathy (Power Poppy)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Ivy, Pearlescent Chocolate)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass)

Other:
Coloured pencils
Gold gel pen
Corner Chomper

Thanks for stopping by!

Starting a new year

Happy New Year to all - I hope 2015 is kind to you.

The end of 2014 was not kind for my neighbour - her mum died just before Christmas so I broke off the festive creating to whip up a quick sympathy card.

I chose soft colours and a light, airy feel with lots of white space, simple layering and elements that break over the edges so there's a sense of movement. Chocolate brown ink is just that bit softer than black and perfect for the sentiment on this kind of card.

I always find sympathy cards hard and I almost wish I'd left the butterfly off this but it seemed to fit her mum's character somehow so it stayed.

Stamps: 
Simple Sprig and Big Day Today (Waltzingmouse Stamps) 

Ink: 
Brilliance Pearlescent Chocolate 
Distress Bundled Sage and Spun Sugar

Other: 
Memory Box Cheviot Butterfly die 
Tracing Wheel 

Thanks for stopping by!

Craft Stamper Challenge

The Craft Stamper blog is now hosting challenges inspired by projects in the magazine and I'm delighted to say that the very first challenge is based on my "faux airbrush" technique from the March issue. The article is part of the Distress to Impress series that's currently highlighting different uses for these versatile inks.

Using Distress to mimic the look of airbrushing is perfect for clean and simple cards. Sadly I needed a sympathy card and decided to use the technique to make something with a soft and restful look as I thought that would be appropriate.

It may be a bit subtle for the camera but I hope you can see how soft and delicate the finish is on this. I used Tumbled Glass at the top of my masked strip and Bundled Sage towards the bottom. A simple stamped image and sentiment with a scored line for "grounding" finish it off. As you can see, it's possible to cover a big area and it gives a different look than regular sponging.

We'd love to have you play along with the challenge and there are a couple of very good reasons to have a go: the winner will not only receive this beautiful Clematis Flourish stamp from Indigo Blu but the card selected as the best entry will be published in a future issue of the magazine.

Check out the Craft Stamper blog for details of how to enter the challenge - we look forward to seeing your take on the technique!

Materials used for my card:
Plant image from Nature I by Indigo Blu
Sentiment from a retired CHF set
Smooth white card
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass, Bundled Sage)
Versafine ink (Onyx Black)
Scor-It
Corner Chomper

Backgrounder Blitz

Last week on the Cornish Heritage Farms forum, the DT girls organised a Backgrounder Blitz - a week's worth of challenges involving background stamps. I managed to do something each day but was busy enough with other stuff that I did quick uploads to the CHF gallery and nothing else so I thought I'd share some of them with you on the blog this week.

The first challenge was to use a BG stamp to make something based on a sketch by Lisa Strahl. Here's the sketch:



And here's my card based on it.



I didn't have any ribbon in the colour I wanted so I used Lisa Silver's tip of colouring a neutral ribbon with an alcohol marker. This technique can stiffen your ribbon but with a lightweight silk one like this, that can be an advantage as it results in a bit more 'body'. The sentiment is stamped directly onto the ribbon.

Supplies: Weathered Wood backgrounder and Silhouette Blooms I (both Cornish Heritage Farms), Tim Holtz Distress Ink Weathered Wood, Brilliance Graphite Black, 1" silk ribbon, Tria marker, silver gel pen

Thanks for looking, I'll add some more tomorrow!

Sympathy Silhouettes

People often say that sympathy cards are hard and when someone said it again on Carolyn's, I decided to have a go. Let's face it, they're the ones you least feel like making when you find out you need one so having one or two put by is probably not a bad thing.



Supplies: Silhouette Blooms I and Cheesecloth Backgrounder (CHF), Barbedor Script (Ma Vinci's Reliquary), Clearsnap chalk ink in creamy brown, chestnut roan, dark brown, Nestabilities classic oval dies, copper brads.

I made the frame for the sentiment just by putting two Nestability dies into my die cutter at the same time, one inside the other. I hit the two copper brads with a ball-end embossing tool and hammer to make them look more like rivets for the frame. I wanted to use antique copper really but I can't find them at the moment! I think these look OK, though.

Thanks for looking, I hope you liked the card.