Birthday greetings

This is a birthday card I made a while ago for my good friend Ruth. The stamps are PaperArtsy Hot Picks and Inkadinkado. The background is simply inked with a blending tool. The design is inspired by a project Leandra Franich did for Craft Stamper magazine.

Thanks for visiting :)

Simply Create DT

This is my first make with the MME Holly Jolly kit I got this month from Simply Create. The card is made using one of the plainer papers and the clear stamp set. I stamped the holly repeatedly around the edge in green ink, then coloured the berries with a Sakura glaze pen. The greeting is stamped in brown, die cut and matted. I went over the word Noel with a sparkle Sakura pen in copper so although you can't tell from the photo it's all pretty and sparkly.

Simple card but that's what you want for Christmas, right?

Gingersnaps Challenge - Versamark

Here's my contribution to this week's Gingersnaps challenge. The theme is Versamark and I've actually used three different Versamark techniques here:

-Watermark - the background text (Prima) is simply stamped with Versamark onto the kraft card to create a watermarked effect.

-Chalk - the swirls are stamped with Versamark then chalked over in a slightly darker colour chalk than the kraft paper to make them stand out a little from the text

-Gilding - the heart is stamped with Versamark, Stamp 'n' Bond then gilding flakes applied.

Just a simple little card. Not very seasonal I know - might have to save it for Valentine's Day next year!!!

BOO! from Gingersnaps :)

Today's theme at Gingersnaps is 'Gothic Elements' - having read the description I may have made a slight misinterpretation of said theme as I went with Hallowe'en. However, I am happy with my creation - it's not very me but that's what I love about it! I've had this Grungeboard skull lurking about forever wondering what on earth I might do with it. I also finally got to try my Rock Candy Crackle Paint too to age and weather the skull.

Here's how I made it:

Ingredients:
Tim Holtz Masks: Haunted
Tim Holtz stamps: Slight Alterations
Inks: Dusty Concord Distress Ink; Stampin’ Up black ink; Memento Smoky Grey ink
Grungeboard shapes (skull)
White acrylic paint
Distress Crackle Paint: Rock Candy
Chipboard
Book pages
Thickers letters – chipboard
Black card
Die cut spiders
Thread
Scrap of ribbon

1 Cut chipboard into a coffin shape and paste book paper (I tore it to add texture) over the chipboard. Trim.

2 Place the masks down and ink over with Dusty Concord. Add black in places around the edges. Stamp the scratches stamp from the Tim Holtz set with black ink. Remove the masks.

3 Tone down the white of the spider webs with a touch of grey ink.

4 Paint the Grungeboard skull with white paint (I cut it into pieces so I could layer the bones behind the skull for dimension). When dry ink the edges and then paint with Rock Candy Crackle Paint. Allow to dry then rub grey Memento ink over to highlight the cracks. Add black card to the back to fill the eye and nose sockets.

5 Similarly paint/ink chipboard letters to spell ‘boo’. Add on a scrap of torn black card.

6 Finish with spider die cuts or plastic toy spiders, hanging one from the bottom on grey thread. Add a loop of black ribbon as a hanging.

I hope you join in at Gingersnaps :)