More square inspiration

Today I am back with a second inspiration make for our Country View Challenge, which this month is hosted by Corrie, who chose "Use a square" as the theme.  This time I made some coasters (square of course) starting with a simply stamped scene with Katzelkraft stamps from the Fruitful set):

As much as I like the stamping (I managed to extend the splash image without hiccups) the colours are underwhelming and the white background may be too stark. I might start again and make a matching coaster to this next one:

The focal image is from the Shabby Chic Stampendous set, by Andy Skinner, the antique products labels/adverts are the perfect size and style for the coasters. The corners are from Crafty Individuals.

After stamping  I applied some Distress Ink in Vintage Walnut all around and added a layer of crackle paste, "highlighted" (or is it "lowlighted"?) with more Walnut Distress Ink.

I hope we gave you ideas to join in our challenge, if you do, you could win a £ 20 voucher! Only one week left, so don't be square and link your makes!  

Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the SSS Wednesday, Stamping Sensations (Katzelkraft stamps and Vintage images are my favourites),  challenges.

Papers and paints

Here is a second set of makes with the Craft O'Clock So Lovely When You Smile collection. 

First a Mixed Media creation, using a large MDF tag from a the That's Crafty sampler pack.

I prepared the tag with Gesso and then applied several colours of Paper Artsy Fresco paints with palette knife and brush.
Then I stencilled in several places some texture paste tinted with more Fresco paint through the Crafter's Workshop TCW454S stencil.
I layered pieces of the different papers and muslin, and added my frame sprayed with shimmering grey ink and highlighted with gold paint. Inside the frame I placed a paper doll, chosen for her smile...
Finally a bird die-cut from the Chipboard pack echoes the fussy cut bird from the extras sheet, which I painted in watercolours (the paper will accept the paint very well in small doses).
A sideways look at the tag :

My second offering of the day is a very simple design suggested by one of the 8x8 paper, this elongated flower composition screamed Slimline card to me and I couldn't think of anything to add but matting and layering to enhance the image so I just added a sentiment to finish.

Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the SSS Wednesday challenge.

It's only paper

Over the next few days, I will be sharing all the projects I did for the That's Crafty  shows aired today on Hochanda . They were all made with the Craft O' Clock "So Lovely When You Smile" collection, a Vintage inspired feminine paper collection.
There are 12x12, 8x8 and 6x6 paper packs and extras sheets for fussy cutting as well as thick die cuts and a pack of ready to cut envelopes, folders, tags etc... I found that last item invaluable to make embellishments for albums or journals, especially as the sheets are double sided so any unused design doesn't need to go to waste.

First up a card with lots of layers of paper, including fussy cut elements, and to the surprise of my loyal followers not a scrap of stamping...

Second a mini album, constructed with black card stock, each page decorated with a panel from the sheet of extras - Decorative cards. There is also an envelope and a pocket from the Junk Journals extras and a chipboard frame and tab from the Thick cardboard die-cuts pack.



Click on the video to see all the pages:

I hope you like these, do let me know in your comments...

Thanks for coming by,

I am entering my square card in the SSS Wednesday challenge.

Let them eat cake

Already mid-month and you only have 2 weeks left to enter our STAMPlorations Theme and Photo Prompt challenge. Don't panic I have some more inspiration for you...

 

I selected cup cakes as my sweet things, using A Snarky Birthday to You stamp set, to create a slimline card.

I first stamped the cupcakes in black ink, masking them as I went along and used the Strung Lights  stencil with sprays, then Distress Inks  for my background.

I coloured the cakes and candles with pencils and added a die-cut sentiment from the Everyday Sentiments set.

After 3 cupcakes the only thing that will be slimline is the card, not the waistline!!!

The STAMP girls are showing inspiration for all the challenges on the STAMPlorations blog so pop by and don't forget to enter our challenge for a chance to win prizes!

***

Whenever you shop for STAMPlorations products you can get 20% off with my code: STAMPGIRLCRAFTY

***

Thanks for coming by,

I am entering the SSS Wednesday challenges.

     

Winter scenes

We are still to see some snow where I live so I created my own snowy scenes with some of my favourites stamps.

I made 2 versions with similar colours and techniques, essentially landscapes created with inks and masks with added stamping.

In this one I attempted to add fog going past the closest trees, not sure this worked!

And as usual in the winter the lighting was abysmal so I am including some shots with my craft daylight stamp to give you a better idea of the actual colours.

  

The stamps are from Stampscapes (Lakeside Cove sheet) the birds from Crafty Individuals (think it's from a trees stamp set)

Thanks for coming by,

I am entering the Allsorts and the Paperbabe  challenges.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year and welcome to the STAMPlorations Theme & Photo Prompt challenge where this month we want you to follow either the theme or the photo prompt (or both, of course) below:

 

I took inspiration from the photo which cried out New Year's eve party to me, reminding me of confetti, balloons, fireworks etc... being released at the stroke of midnight.. And since last year was rather insane I am pretty happy to celebrate 2021!

 

I stamped and embossed in Wow super fine EP in silver the balloons from the A Snarky Birthday to You stamp set and coloured them with alcohol markers and pencils. 

A vellum pocket is filled with White Frost - ShakerBlends sequins and some Glitter bitz (Cosmic Shimmer).

The STAMP girls are showing inspiration on the STAMPlorations blog so pop by and don't forget to enter our Theme and Photo Prompt challenge.

***

Whenever you shop for STAMPlorations products you can get 20% off with my code: STAMPGIRLCRAFTY

***

Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the SSS Monday, challenge.

   

Squared UP

Roll on the New Year, I am not sorry to see the back of 2020 and I suspect a lot of you feel the same way. Anyhoo... We have a new challenge at Country View Challenge, 

which this month is hosted by Corrie, who chose "Use a square" as the theme. 

A square you say... 

I went the whole hog and added power to my square and turned it into a cube, well a box really but with lots of squares!!! 

The ta-da moment:

I created my box base by scoring a 12x12 sheet of black card every 4" horizontally and vertically. I traced some hearts in the corners and cut them out with scissors. 

I also made a lid and before putting them together I stamped and embossed in white EP my badger (Lavinia) and elegant border (Paper Artsy HP) what will be the outside of the box. 

For the inside, I stamped 5 images, all from the same collection by Imagination Crafts (they are called Art stamps and quite old so probably not on sale anymore) .

Over to you now, have a look at what the DT made on the Country View Challenge blog and link up your project to the challenge for the chance to win a £20 voucher for the Country View Craft shop.


Thanks for coming by,

2020 Retrospective

To celebrate this very sorry year ending, 

a retrospective of my 10 favourite makes of the year

Christmas ATC's

Blogging has been a great motivator in my crafting, as well a way to get in touch with the crafting community and share information, inspiration and encouragement. Sadly, Facebook, Instagram and other social media are slowly edging out the more leisurely blogs. Maybe it's a generation thing, maybe it's a sign of the times... always going quicker, always moving on to the next thing...

Unsurprisingly, several blogs and challenges have given up, A Vintage Journey being one that I admired greatly. I had to enter their last challenge despite ATCs being a real struggle for me!

The left hand ATC includes some Graphic 45 paper and a chipboard piece, a deer die-cut and a gold star from the Sizzix Thinlits Set- Christmas Shadow Box  (663611), some gel medium mixed with white acrylic paint and sprinkled with white flock. 

 
The right hand side has a background made with an embossed wax paper (Sizzix Texture Fades Embossing Folders: Bricked & Woodgrain set 656644) , ironed and inked over. Santa Claus is also graphic 45 and I stamped the sentiment from an old magazine freebie set.

Only one thing left to say..... 

Merry Christmas to all!!!

Thanks for coming by,

The Inside story

Are you getting a sense of deja vu....
You would be right if you did, because, indeed this is the front of the card I showed you in my last post. 
But wait... there is more, a lot more inside! In fact the main event IS the inside:

Now you need to it in action so I made this short video:

Making it is not especially difficult but you do need the die to make the mechanism (Photo Collage Pop-up by Karen Burniston) and you need to follow her instructions. It is however a bit fiddly as the pieces have to be placed so that they don't get into each other's way whilst moving as well as when the card is opened. 

To make it I used a kraft card base and all the papers are Graphic45. Mine is an old collection (Nutcraker sweet), but you can find the latest here, including some Christmas themed ones.
I took some photos too but November's natural light is not enough (immediately below) and flash photography isn't very flattering (2nd photo below).

I hope you are feeling inspired... You have until the end of the month to enter your Christmas makes into our Country View Challenge for the chance to win a £20 voucher for the Country View Craft shop.

Thanks for coming by,

Shimmering wreath

Welcome to my second inspiration piece for the STAMPlorations Theme & Photo Prompt challenge !



Today's inspiration make  is a Christmas card where I used non-Christmas themed supplies to complement the die-cut sentiment.

I started with the circle in the middle which I stamped with a Gelli plate inked with Versafine, sprayed lightly with water and sprinkled with Brushos.

I then stamped the wreath using 2 images from the Wooded set.

I stencilled the background with ink first, then with Versamark before applying mica powders for that shimmer effect... The stencil I used is Abstract April Showers

The Jingle All The Way Phrase Die was die-cut from white cardstock which I also transformed with Versamark and mica powder.

Here's another photo taken in the shade so you can see better the colour and shape of the stencilled motifs:  

The STAMP girls are showing inspiration for all the challenges on the STAMPlorations blog so pop by and don't forget there are prizes to win if you link up to our  Theme & Photo Prompt challenge ! 

***

Whenever you shop for STAMPlorations products you can get 20% off with my code: STAMPGIRLCRAFTY

***

Thanks for coming by,

I am entering the Allsorts, Lost Coast Designs challenges.