A stitch in time

It's dare day over at Daring Cardmakers and Nat is asking us to "stitch it!" - use stitching as a prominent feature in your design.

This is absolutely not what I intended to make when I sat down at the craft table and I'm not sure how prominent the stitching really is but it's what happened so I'm going with the flow!

I'm still without my sewing machine which is on loan to a friend so I decided to do something I could hand stitch. Each of the stars has a slightly wonky line of stitching through it and the sequins are stitched on as well (just a knotted thread on the small ones but through the centre and out to the edges on the larger ones).

The stars were punched from a scrap of watercolour paper that had orange and purple re-inkers on it that has been lying around for ages.

I find the best strategy for hand stitching on card is to pierce holes first rather than trying to do it with the needle as you go.

Stamps:
Bubble background by Indigo Blu
Big Day Today by Waltzingmouse stamps (retired)

Ink:
Memento Luxe by Tsukineko (Bahama Blue)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Spiced Marmalade)

Other:
Clean Color markers (Cobalt Blue and Light Blue)
Spica glitter pen (Turquoise)
Star punches
Sequins
Corner Chomper
White and silver threads

A snowy hello

Summer seems to have passed us by so I thought I'd go straight to winter (do not pass go, do not collect £200). The CHF DT girls have a challenge each Monday and this week's is to use your favourite product on your project. I picked Glossy Accents, not a favourite because I use it on everything but because it's a new toy so I'm having fun playing with it!

I used it in several ways on this card:
- Each snow dot is highlighted to make it shine
- I used it as glue for the glitter on the star, it's great for this as it's completely clear and very gloopy so you can get loads of glitter on there without any interference with the colour!
- I filled the centre of my metal frame with it so it looks like it has a glass panel.
- I made the snowflake embellie by punching a flake from acetate and then coating it with Glossy Accents so that it has more dimension and a really icy look.

Here's a closer look at the acetate/Glossy Accents snowflake. I like how that turned out so I may well play with that technique again!

I stitched on my card too so it fits today's Think Pink challenge on Bubbly Funk and the card will go into my next bundle for Di to sell at the Think Pink sale in October. Check out the link in the menu on the right if you want to know more about this great fundraiser for Breast Cancer Care!

Stamps: Snowman with Star, Silhouette Blooms I (sentiment), paisley backgrounder - all Cornish Heritage Farms
Ink: Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black and Smokey Gray)
Paper: smooth white (unknown maker) and DCWV white core
Other: Prismacolor pencils, iridescent glitter, Glossy Accents, pewter hardware (Making Memories), acetate sheet

Tools: Sewing machine and metallic thread, snowflake punch (X cut), sandpaper


Thanks for stopping by! Lots of the girls have played with their favourites this week so why not check out a few others if you want to see some fun projects?

Alli
Kristine
Michele
Kim
Dawn
Lori
Sherrie
Carole
Becky
Val
Julie

Kiss, kiss, smooch

Next in the series of CHF challenges was 'kissing' with background stamps. I don't have that many solid image stamps so for my first attempt I combined two backgrounders, the broad stripe and weathered wood. I inked the wood bg and 'kissed' onto the stripe before stamping to make the base for this card.



Supplies: Broad Strip and Weathered Wood backgrounders, Time to Stamp, Beautiful (all Cornish Heritage Farms). Versafine Vintage Sepia, Tim Holtz Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain, SU! antique copper Hodgepodge hardware, gingham ribbon (Bazzill)

Then I combined the kissing technique with a sketch challenge also running on the CHF forum. The kissing is quite subtle here but if you click through to the larger version of the pic you should be able to see the cheesecloth texture on the head of the flower (I inked the flower in pink and then kissed against the cheesecloth inked in dark peony).



Supplies: Polka dot and cheesecloth backgrounders, Silhouette Blooms I (all Cornish Heritage Farms), Clearsnap Fluid Chalk ink Pink Pastel and Dark Peony, green marker pens, sewing machine and thread, vintage crochet trim, Nestability Classic Circle dies.

Hope you're having a lovely weekend, thanks for taking time out for a peep at my blog!

Anything but paper

Stampers stamp on paper and make cards, right? Maybe the odd scrapbook LO? One of the background blitz challenges last week at Cornish Heritage Farms was to stamp on anything but paper and there was some fabulous creative thinking going on!

I still made a card but I stamped on a piece of white cotton fabric salvaged from an old shirt. I picked a fancy stitch on my sewing machine to create more of a border between the fabric panel and the border - I thought it looked kind of like a cot quilt.




Supplies: Polka dot backgrounder (CHF), wording stamps are my own design, Brilliance Pearlescent Sky ink, tiny safety pin, silver baby feet charm, narrow sheer ribbon, sewing machine and thread, cotton fabric

Thanks for stopping by today!

Brayered Birthday Wishes

I've been admiring Michelle Zindorf's work with a brayer, both on Splitcoaststampers and the Cornish Heritage Farms gallery. I remembered using something similar as a kid when I made a lino block for Christmas cards one year and Dad let me use a "roller thingy" to apply the gloopy printer's ink.

Sure enough, Dad can be relied upon not to have got rid of such things and I've borrowed the brayer - thanks Dad! It's probably half a century old but it still does the job!

Not easy, this brayering lark but after a lot of faffing about trying different cardstock and rolling actions, I think I might be getting somewhere.



Supplies: Adirondack Willow, Tim Holtz Distress Peeled Paint and Shabby Shutters, Clearsnap Fluid Chalk ink Dark Brown, brayer, Single Black Eyed Susan (CHF), sentiment words from HOTP set, Prismacolor pencils, French curve template, fine point brown marker, sewing machine, acrylic nailart gems.

Because I wanted longer stems at a different angle than the stamp, I stuck tape over the stem when I inked up and just stamped the flower head. Then I used a French curve template and drew in stems with a fine brown marker.

I was inspired to do a green background to fit with Claudia's blog challenge to create something using your favourite colour. My favourite colour varies from time to time but I always seem to gravitate back to greens, especially soft or olivey tones.

Thanks for dropping by - hope your day is a good one!

I like birthdays!

I'm probably getting to an age where I shouldn't care about birthdays but I just had a nice one :) As a forum friend said when I reported on my gifts "Rubber stamps, good booze and high quality chocolate, what more could a girl want?"

I got lots of lovely stamps from Cornish Heritage Farms and I'm trying to ration myself to using only one or two a day so that the excitement of new toys lasts longer! Here's the first card I made using the polka dot and Lenten Rose stamps. I have a few others I'll try to remember to blog in the next few days.



The bottom part of the background was done DTP with the olive chalk ink and then sanded a little bit to distress it. I used simple masking to make the row of lenten roses and then cut out the whole strip - less cutting and colouring than stamping them all individually!

Supplies: Polka Dot Backgrounder, Lenten Rose both CHF, sentiment from Woodware Tiny Phrases set, Clearsnap chalk ink Dark Brown and Olive Pastel, Prismacolor pencils, Tria marker (for shadow), sewing machine and olive green thread

Thanks for dropping by today, hope you liked the card!