Terra paste Challenge card

This week the Craft Barn Challenge involves making something with Terra paste. I chose to make my item with Sahara Terra paste and pressed stamps into it to create texture. When dry I overpainted, not with acrylics, which would have been the obvious choice, but with watercolours on the basis that I had them handy. With a paper towel I gently rubbed the raised parts to reveal the designs and voila...

I had fun playing with the paste and tried out other techniques as well, including using stencils to apply the paste through, although the results were not perfect as the paste seeped under the stencil!

Sketch Challenge

Here is the card I entered in the Sketch Saturday Challenge :

I don't usually work with sketches but I have found that it helps when inspirations fails, as part of the design work is already done for you !
The main image has been inked with Blue Sapphire, Antique Linen and Forest Moss Distress inks and stamped with in Forest Moss and Walnut Stain Distress inks.
The largest mat has been punched with Martha Stewart Iron Gate Punch Around The Page.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cute but stylish for the man in your life

I picked up this stamp set because of a particular image I'd been looking for, namely a door, even though the set involves cute animals which aren't my usual choice of imagery. Anyway the boat image looked perfect for an anniversary card I have coming up so I thought I would make a foray in the "cute" style. Here is the result :

The main image has been stamped using Zig Art graphic pen in gray and coloured with watercolour pencils. I then applied a wet brush to produce a watercolour effect. The stamp is from the Lovers Lane Collection by Country Companions.

I hope the intended recipient likes it as much as I enjoyed making it!

Concertina Challenge

Over on theCraftbarn blog this week's challenge is to make a concertina flower by hand and this is my submission:

I have meant to make one up for a long time, but I was daunted by the task (I do not own the Tim Holtz Rosette die or a scoring board), so this challenge comes in at the right moment to give me the push I needed.
My my first attempt produced a wonky and oversized rosette but in the end I decided it would still look good, say on a present instead of a ribbon bow.
On my second try, I realised after doing all the scoring that the rosette was still going to be too large and proceeded to cut it into several pieces (3). Of course that wasn't easy what with all the score lines the paper would not lay flat... So by now instead of distressing my edges to give more interest to my rosettes I was distressed!

Anyway, I am quite pleased with the result and I now have a big flower, to use on a scrapbook page, a card sized one I put on my submission card and a dinky one I have to find a use for, as well as my large flower with a swirly middle.

Hope you'll like them

Yes all right...

I have long resisted these new web things, those twitters, RSS feeds, blogs and the like but there it is you can only do so much without one!
So, not very technical me, is embarking on this venture in the hope that, in time, I will create and run a decent blog on crafting matters.
I am off to study my next step of blog creation... See you soon!

Craftyfield