Flock of birds

Hello crafters, 
This fortnight, the Allsorts challenge optional theme, chosen by Lynn is "Things with Wings". As usual, you can also enter with an "anything goes" theme.

I prepared a piece of cardstock with a wash of blue watercolour, fading to white.
I then stamped several bird stamps from the STAMPlorations set "Trendy Birds 2" as well as two of the sentiments.
Finally, I used the larger of the dies in the "Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies" set (also STAMPlorations) and matted the card with black and blue cardstock.

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Hop over to the Allsorts challenge blog to see all the DT inspiration and upload your projects. There are two prizes to be won: a $30 gift card from Taylored Expressions and an extra prize of an A4 stamp set. 

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield   I am entering the Stamping Sensations,  We Love Stamping and

                                                        Polkadoodles challenges

The call of the sea

Hello crafters, 
This fortnight, the Allsorts challenge optional theme, chosen by yours truly is "Seaside". As usual, you can also enter with an "anything goes" theme.

As this is a favourite theme for me, I made 2 cards, above and under the waves...

The focal image is Penny Black's Escape (40-692) stamped in several colours of inks. (I used both inkpads and markers as I rarely have all the colours in all media).

The base is glossy card, and I added colour with dye inks and a smoothie to the sky, sea and sandy beach.

For the mat I used the AALL & Create #91 Film Drip die set, extending the height by doing 2 partial cuts and finishing with scissors.

The underwater scene has been stamped with Versafine Clair inks (next time I will make sure to use Memento) on watercolour paper.

   

All stamps are from the Creative Stamping issue 97.I stamped first and then water coloured the water and sea floor, removing the sun rays and light areas with a dry brush. 

A final stamp in white pigment ink for the bubbles, which I strengthened with a gel pen.

I finished colouring the turtle, fish and seashells. 

The image and its mat were then die-cut with the AALL & Create #77 Climbing Woods die set.

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I hope I have inspired you to join us at the Allsorts challenge blog to see all the DT inspiration and upload your seaside projects!

There are two prizes to win, of two Sentimentally Yours stamps each from Grafton Crafts , a well stocked bricks and mortar and on line shop offering fee p&p on all orders over £15!

    

     

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield   I am entering the Beach card in the We Love Stamping and 

                                                          Addicted to stamps challenges

Mellow Fruitfulness

Welcome to my second inspiration post for our Country View Challenge! The lovely Debs has chosen the theme  "Season of Mists and mellow fruitfulness" and thinking about fruits and harvests I decided to make this this journal page: 

I stamped and masked the pears (Perfect Pear by Rubber Dance) with coloured inks, and over stamped with the screen stamp (Mixed Media Marks #1) also from Rubber Dance, which I embossed in white EP.

For colours,  I used brushos on the background and watercolours for the pears.

The sentiment is from the stamp set by Katzelkraft stamp (KTZ 135).

Time for you to create something for our Country View Challenge for the chance
to win a £20 voucher for the Country View Craft shop, only 2 weeks to go so hop to it!

Thanks for coming by,

Craftyfield      I am entering the Paperbabe, We  Love Stamping challenge

Spring Bunny

Welcome to my second inspiration piece for our Country View Challenge on the 

Theme of "Spring is coming! 

I stamped the bunny from the AALL & Create Stamp Set In the Wild (#529) with water based markers and my trusty stamping platform. There is so many stamps in the set I haven't even used all them yet, and I love this slightly grunged up but realistic look of the images. [Yes this is my stamp set of the moment!]

I coloured the flowers and leaves with watercolour but the bunny's colours are just stamping. I should add that some of the details of the image has been lost because of the texture of the paper.

The background is stencilled in Distress inks with one of the stencil from the Stampers Anonymous/Tim Holtz Mini Layering Stencil set #35.

As was mulling over how to finish and mat my card, I had to use my sewing machine for some repairs and decided I should take the opportunity to sew a border.

The sentiment is stamped on a die-cut tag (Impression Obsession IO Flags Die Set DIE015-F)

You still have 2 weeks to link up your project to the challenge for the chance to win a £20 voucher for the Country View Craft shop, so hop on over to the Country View Challenge blog for more inspiration and details on how to enter.

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield      I am entering the Paperbabe, Stamping Sensations, 

                                                           We love stamping, challenges

Hearts and Flowers Greeting card

Hello crafters, today is my turn to inspire the Country View Challenges fans with a Hearts and Flowers make, the theme chosen by Jane. Lack of imagination meant I went totally literal: 

The design would suit Valentine's Day, Mother's day or even Birthdays really! 

The flower image is a stamp from the AALL & Create Stamp Set #529 - In the Wild by Bipasha BK, and the die-cut border is an old 12x12 border die by Docrafts . 

The flowers were coloured with watercolours. 

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Over to you now, you still have 2 weeks to link up your project to the Country View Challenges blog for the chance to win a £20 voucher for the Country View Craft shop.

Just remember to follow the theme (make hearts and flowers obvious) AND the challenges rules!!!

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield   I am entering the Paperbabe, Stamping Sensations, 

                                                     We Love Stamping challenges

Seeds of hope

I am in a flower mood... they are an easy theme to give for any occasion so having a stock of cards ahead of time is a good thing.

I used 2 stamps on this card, the sentiment is from the Life is so much better set and the image is Movie Strip Collage both by Chocolate Baroque.

To stamp the image, I inked the flower with coloured markers and used black on the film strips and tag. I then used watercolours to colour in the petals and background.

Thanks for coming by,

I am entering the Allsorts,  We Love Chocolate Baroque, Stamping Sensations , SSS Monday, SSS Wednesday  challenges.

7th Anniversary Day 2 Forever Roses

Welcome back for our 2nd day of STAMPlorations Birthday Celebration 

Unusually, today I have a card with with patterned papers! I used the Basic A2 Panels Nesting Dies to cut quickly and easily a few pieces and layering them simply on my base card.

The focal image is from the Bloomfully: Forever stamp set, recently released.  I stamped it with Distress inks in pale pink and Antique Linen for the leaves to get a no-line colouring look.
 

I then used watercolours and a brush for the roses and added a stamped sentiment from the same set.

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The STAMP girls are showing inspiration for all the challenges on the STAMPlorations blog so pop by and don't forget to comment along the way for a chance to win (before the 8th of November)!

You can see all of the new sets released here.     

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

AND during the Anniversary all orders placed with my code will include this not-yet-released stencil, Just Plaid square stencil (10 mil):

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Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the challenges.

  

Snowy scene with robin

Just a quick post to enter this little guy in the Allsorts challenge.

The church stamp is from the Crafty Individuals CI-474 set, the sheep from CI-467 and the robin is 

CI-456.

The hill the robins stands on is a Stampscape stamp, 205F Boulders with Lichen.

The sky, church and ground have been watercoloured , the bird was stamped in coloured inks so I only needed to add a little colour .

As a final touch I added falling snowflakes with thick gesso and sprinkled white flock in places for that fluffy effect of real snowflakes.

Thanks for coming by,

I am also entering the We Love Chocolate Baroque challenge.

Picture-esque Port

I am back for a second inspiration make for our Country View Challenge, which I am hosting this month.
The theme I chose is "I like to be beside the Seaside".
Far away from the crowded beaches of the South of England, here's a picturesque port that is as empty as a Covid19 afflicted area... OK too soon to joke about? Personally I feel the need as there are no signs of a return to normal anytime soon....

My make is a watercolour, A4 in size (8" by 11" 1/2) and, apart from the buoys and ropes, everything has been stamped not drawn.

The houses are a stamp by Picture This (Fisherman's wharf). I first printed the "mirror image" seen on the right of the picture by using my Gelli plate and Versafine ink (this gave better results than any other of my inks) and then aligned the actual stamp to the left leaving just a small gap to allow sufficient distance between the windows of the central house.

To colour, I used mainly tube watercolours and pencils for small details.

If like me you are lacking in drawing skills, the Picture This collection provides both large images (houses and buildings of different styles and eras, trees)  and accessories (cars, people, windows and doors, street lamps, beach huts etc...) to build your own scene in the countryside, seaside or town. If you aren't familiar with these designs I thoroughly recommend you have a look.

Here's the full picture:

I hope you will enjoy my chosen theme for the Country View Challenge blog and will link up many  projects. And if you do, you could be in with a chance to win a £20 voucher for the Country View Craft shop.

Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the The Artistic Stamper challenge.

Christmas in July

Christmas in July is a popular theme in crafting circles and, as it happens, July is also World Watercolour Month so I decided to join in with a watercolour snowy scene to keep us cool...
 

All the stamps are by Crafty Individuals.

I first painted the sky with a brush and watercolour paints.

The bird (CI-507) was stamped next, using a mix of watercolour pencils on the rubber sprayed with water. I sprayed the paper too so that a little colour seeps around the body of the bird as if it's moving.

I masked the bird and stamped the trees (all from CI-450) with grey ink, dry-ish black ink (my old Memento pad), and using my fresh Memento black inkpad for the foreground tree.

With all the elements in place I added hills, snowdrifts and blades of grass peeping from the snow.

Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the Stamping Sensations, Lost Coast Designs and  Vintage Journey challenges.

Ye Olde Shoppe

Happy February crafters! We have a new challenge at Country View Challenge and Teresa chose "Splatters, Splashes and Drips" as the theme.

For my first inspiration piece I decided to use splatters to "paint" part of my picture.

I first stamped the Olde Shoppe by Picture This using Sepia Versafine ink and using masking fluid [1] and newspaper carefully masked the building.





Using a watercolour brush and a silicone tipped tool I created splatters of varying sizes and colours.


I let dry this first layer and then splattered some masking fluid to preserve some lighter or even white "pebbles".



I added a final wash of colour, this time with a brush to fill in the ground. The picture now looks like this:

Time to paint the rest of the house in watercolour and remove the masking fluid:

For the sign I used a pen with a small nib loaded with watercolour.

For good measure, I splattered some colour across the picture.






I hope you enjoyed this technique, you can also use it for shingles and poppy fields etc..
Don't forget to enter our Country View Challenge for the chance to win a £20 voucher to spend at the shop!

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

[1] I am using Schmincke White liquid frisket. I have found it to be less prone to tearing the paper when removing and seems to keep in good condition in the bottle for longer.

Chocolate box Christmas

For those of you who came for the chocolate, apologies… I am only talking about to the picture on the box! Today's offering is a Christmas card which I had great fun creating.

I wanted a brightly coloured night sky, a bit "Northern Lights" and used a mix of Brushos and Infusions (Violet storms) to create it, adding shimmer splatters for stars.

I used paper masks and masking fluid to protect the hills and the stamped cottage before applying the powders.

The small trees on the hill are from Lavinia (Tree Scene set) and both Cottage (CI-460 Build a Landscape) and foreground tree (CI-209 Winter Trees) are from Crafty Individuals, stamped in black Memento ink.

I added watercolour in the foreground for snow and acrylic paint for the snow on the trees and roof.

Let me know what you think...
I am entering the Penny Black and more, Polkadoodles, Paperbabe, Craft Stamper TIMI, Unikostudio, Addicted to stamps and SSS Wednesday  challenges.

Just as you are

Have you entered the STAMPLorations Theme & Photo Prompt Challenge yet? Only 2 weeks to go,  but I am here today to show you how I used the October Theme &  Photo Prompt. 

 

For my second make I took my inspiration from the plants in the photo, whilst still using only 3 colours (you can add white, black, and other neutral tones such as beige, ivory, greys …)

The image is a bit more colourful than I intended but this is due to my choice of colouring medium. I love stamping in colour so I had decided to do just that with the succulent image from Thankful & Blessed and used some Ecoline markers to ink my stamp.

I had never used them in this way before and they are so much more vibrant than pans or tubes watercolour, that there was enough colour in the line stamping to colour the leaves (without adding more). Now I'll know for next time...

I created a mask and used my stamping platform to get the right colours and sections of the stamp to print.

Then I used a water brush to tease out the colour from the stamped lines and colour the image. I added washes of colour around the image by picking up the colour with the brush from an acrylic bloc scribbled with the pens.

I added the sentiment from the Fond Expressions 2 stamped in Versafine Onyx black.

Your turn to create something with 3 colours or less and/or following our photo inspiration. There are prizes to be won... a $15 gift certificate to the winner and $10 to the runner up chosen by a DT member as well as a $5 gift certificate each to three randomly drawn players.

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And don't forget, whenever  you shop for STAMPlorations products you can get 20% off with my code: STAMPGIRLCRAFTY

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Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the Craft Stamper challenge.


   

Words cannot say

A very short post today to show this CAS card.

The flower bouquet (Fancy Frangipanis) is stamped with Memento fog grey for a (nearly) no line colouring, which I did with watercolours.
The sentiment, from the Fond expressions 2 stamp set, is stamped in Memento Black.
Both stamp sets are by STAMPlorations.

I added some DecoArt Glass paint for dew drops as the finishing touch.

Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the CAS Watercolour, Craft Stamper TIMI, Penny Black and more,  Stamping Sensations (Sir Stampalot),  STAMplorations, and Unikostudio challenges.

Song bird

Welcome to the STAMPlorations Theme & Sketch April challenge

This month the theme and sketch are:

Following the Watercolour theme I created a background for my bird by pouring several colours successively on a piece of thick watercolour card. I let the colours dry between each application so they didn't mix into mud.
I stamped and embossed the bird from the Trendy Birds 2 set and the sentiment from the For the Birds set with white embossing powder, then added accents with violet and red powders.

I hope I have inspired you to join for the STAMPlorations Theme & Sketch April challenge, remember that you have to follow either the Sketch OR the Theme but you can use both if you're up for a challenge! If you do play with us you could win a prize...

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

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Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the Casology and SSS Wednesday challenges.