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Thursday 30 August 2012

Texture Challenge from Creative Expressions - DT Call


Hello fellow bloggers.

As you may know Creative Expressions have a DT call out and how could I not enter especially with new stamps every month as an incentive. Wow!

I have quite an ecletic style as those of you who follow my blog will know but I do have a particular penchant for anything steampunk/vintage. So with a texture challenge in mind I decided to use my CE stamps from the Vintage Inventor plate and here is my entry.



 Texture paste was used with the steampunk mask in each corner of the card and once dry the whole card was coloured with DIs Peeled Paint and Aged Mahogany.


Die cut cogs were crackled with red as the base coat and green on top, these were snipped in pieces and attached on either side of the card and topped with metal cogs. For more texture, a couple of pieces of builders scrim were coloured with the DIs and added on either side of the image. This is such a versatile medium to use and as a bonus it is self adhesive!



The Inventor was stamped onto calico fabric and coloured with diluted distress stains, a piece of wadding placed behind it and then sewn onto hessian and attached to the card with faux screw brads. The light bulb stamp was used with heatable film and fibres to create what I hope look like lit bulbs!



I love making flowers and here I have used various materials for different textures: the rose was made with kraft glassine; the rolled rose with cordinations, the carnation with tissue and dictionary paper stained with DS peeled paint and aged mahogany; another was made with lace, chiffon and a metal flower with a clear bead in the centre: a fimo rose; a string swirl; to which I added metal leaves and flower, pins and buttons with a TH die cut clock underneath.


 
At the bottom of the card I criss crossed a few bits of leftover ric rac ribbon and added clock hands and wings to the centres.To finish, a row of white fabric roses tinted with DS peeled paint and aged mahogany, a wooden bird, a crown, a pin with the word Inventor and the light bulbs.


This is a very busy piece but I think it all works together and it is an attempt to emulate the style of Finnabair whose work is really inspiring. I am so pleased with how this has turned out that I think I will put it in a picture frame and hang it in my craft room!

Apart from the CE DT challenge I am also entering this into the following challenges:

fashionablestampingchallenges.cottagecrafts.ie/ Anything floral, handmade flowers
sweetstampsblog.blogspot.co.uk/ A favourite tecnique - making flowers
ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.co.uk/ Always Anything Goes

Tuesday 21 August 2012

Anything Goes Challenge #74 Make your own Background

It's time for a new challenge at Anything Goes and the theme is Make your own Backgrounds which gives lots of scope for your entries.

I have had ink dusters in a drawer for a long time - unused, I am ashamed to admit, but I finally let them see the light of day to make this card for my granddaughter who was 4 last week.



Another item in my stash I haven't used for a while are the Big and Juicy ink pads and I chose the Hydrangea to colour the background. Each colour of the ink palette was dusted  diagonally across the card as I was aiming for a rainbow effect. Really liked the effect and can't believe how easy it was to do. I used the same inkpad to colour all the images which apart from the fence are all Molly Bloom stamps - rather appropriate as my granddaughter is called Molly and she loved the idea that the stamp was called after her!!!

The little bird was stamped and embossed randomly across the page and each was coloured with one of the colours from the Hydrangea pad. Molly, the bird on the branch and the bird house  were stamped, coloured, cut out and put in place with pinflair for dimension.

The fence was made using a stamp from the Creative Expressions Garden Create a Scene set and the flowers are die cuts using the Xcut flower dies. The spiral roses are also die cuts using the smallest Creatables rose dies and ric rac ribbon was added for the stems. Some pearls for the flower centres, a sentiment and chipboard number completed the card.

The Craft Den stocks all the items used here and lots more besides, do pay Lynn's site a visit.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

cardmakinmamas.blogspot.co.uk/ Try something new (inkdusters)
joyfulstamper.blogspot.co.uk/ Always Anything Goes
wishcraftcards.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/waste-not-wednesdays-wk28.html Forgotten stuff - unused stash/ items not used for a while etc
ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.co.uk/ Always Anything Goes





Wednesday 15 August 2012

Creative Expressions Black and White Challenge

Hi fellow bloggers. Over at Creative Expressions their current monthly challenge is to create a monochromatic card which must be predominately black and white. One of my favourite combinations and I have created this card as my submission for the challenge.


I used an image  from one of the older Creative expressions sets called Party Ladies which is a set I use quite a lot - together with the elegant ladies set, great for girly cards.


The image was stamped onto white card and the dresses were paper pieced using  polka dot papers from the Papermania capsule range. The hats were also paper pieced but black and white feathers were glued to the hats first, the skin and rose were coloured with promarkers. These were then cut with Labels 21 die and the matts were made by tracing around the outside of the same die for a narrow border again using the polka dot papers.

This lady is adorned with pearls so I strung black and white seed pearls and sewed them to the card following the stamped design, the pearls on the shoes, hat and the ring on her finger were glued into place with cosmic shimmer glue.

Using the new Spellbinders Venetian motifs and accents dies the mask and flourish were cut in black and white card. I really think the venetian set compliment this image perfectly. The flourishes were 'hooked' onto the die cuts to create an extension of the hats and a little cosmic shimmer aqua twinkles was added around the eyes of the masks.

This is an 8 x 8 card onto which I matted black card and the same polka doe paper as used for the dresses, the images were mounted with foam pads and the masks with glue gel. The corners are pieces cut from the Venetian border and a B&W striped ribbon down the middle was added to finish off (and to conceal the join of the papers lol).

I hope you like this card and I intend to also enter it into the following challenges:

cardsundmore-challengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/ Anything Goes
craft-roomchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ Fashion
paperandsuchonline.blogspot.co.uk/ Stamping on Designer paper
papertakeweekly.blogspot.co.uk/ Spots and stripes
ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.co.uk/ Always Anything Goes
crazychallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ Black and white and one other (Red)
creativeinspirationspaint.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/ci-paints-inspired-by-monochromatic.html  Monochromatic
dreamvalleychallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ Die Cuts and Punches
nomatterwhichchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ Anything Goes
onestitchatatimechallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ Anything Goes
robynsfetishchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/ Monochromatic cards
ribbongirls.blogspot.co.uk/ Bingo - Ribbon, Pearls & Image


Tuesday 7 August 2012

Anything Goes Summer Days Challenge #73

Time for a new challenge at Anything Goes and this one is all about Summer Days and the DT have come up with some fab ideas and interpretations for the theme.

Summer for me is all about colour and flowers and one of my favourite flowers is the poppy - I love the vibrant red of this flower. I used the IndigoBlu stamps from the Poppy Meadow sheet which are available at the Craft Den


The background was coloured by blending scattered straw, dried marigold and fired brick DIs. The Poppies were coloured with fired brick, peeled paint and black soot DIs. The butterflies are die cuts using Tim Holtz alterations dies and these were dry embossed with a cuttlebug folder,coloured using DIs and a few red beads added to create the bodies.

 I am entering this into the following challenges:

ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.co.uk/ Always Anything Goes