Bloom where you are planted

This is the theme for the Impression Obession Challenge this week, and offers me the opportunity to make a card I have had in mind for quite a while... and it's all about using some Flower Soft : I love it, but hardly ever use it. I have 2 crafty resolutions for the year : 1- use old stash, 2- use scraps of paper/cardstock and I have kept those rules in mind when designing this card.

The background is Core'dination (White wash) embossed with a freebie folder from a magazine, that I stamped beforehand with CAC Grunge (CC076).
The main image is Flower Wheelbarrow (D1312) , colored with alcohol markers and jazzed up with the Flower Soft. I created a frame around it with punched shapes, managing to tick both resolutions in one go ! Old tools with scraps... perfect. I must own up that this idea has been ...hmm, "borrowed" from Shona, as I saw it in a previous IO challenge. Hope she won't mind.

Finally I felt there was something missing and pulled out the rhinestones, another tick on my "old stash" resolution !

Thanks for coming by,

Inspired By Sue Carrington (2)

Sue returns to the Paper Arsty blog and I have taken inspiration, mainly, from her sewing box project. But I didn't have a wooden box to play with... what I DID have is a box, where I store my embossing powders. You'll see that I have only done the box lid, but mine is considerably larger than Sue's box. Not sure if I will paint the other half as I want to be able to close it !

I embossed some metal with a Ten Seconds Studio mould and applied Fresco paints, then highlighted them with wax crayons. This is in place of Treasure Gold, which is on my wish list but not yet in my stash.
I affixed the metal with texture paste to the box (so that the embossing doesn't get flattened) and painted it with 3 colours of Fresco in thin layers.
The background stamps are from the Hot Picks sets 1111, 1201 and 1202 also stamped with paints and the main image, stamped in Archival black, is from the Hot pick 1112.
Then, I HAD to use my latest home made stencil, a quatrefoil design. The paint seeped quite a bit under the stencil and it is partly because the sponge I was using was a bit wet. I then tried with paste with a bettter result.

Now just to clarify : in one of my previous posts I mentioned 2 other stencils that I'd made and from the comments I think some readers thought I actually hand cut the stencils.... Well sadly no, I have nor the patience nor the dexterity to cut so small and intricate stencils. Hand made yes, but I used a punch for one and a die (multiple times) for the other. I made the quatrefoil stencil with several cuts of a die (Memory Box) horizontal strips stuck on top of vertical ones (it works because the design is symetrical). Here's the picture, I haven't cut sticking out pieces because I reckon they will come in handy when I want to pick up the stencil full of paint/paste etc.. and it is for my eyes only, oh and yours...but you will understand !

Thanks for coming by,

In the air challenge

The gauntlet has been thrown at the Impression Obsession blog... "In the air" is the theme and apart from the obvious birds, butterflies etc... what to do??? I use butterflies a lot, as for me they are easier than flowers, being suitable for both male and female cards... but I have butterfly fatigue.

This is what I ended up with, well the houses are "in the air" so I hope it fits the theme, and I love this humorous image. As for the title it started as "house in the air" but then all I could think of was the Eye in the sky tune and there it was...

The image is the Pig Bros. Birdhouse (G1028) by Gary Robertson and I colored it with alcohol markers, you can tell I need some practice !
You may not recognise the banner, it is actually the largest die from the Flags die set (DIE015-F) but it has been partially cut (on one side and then the other), overstamped with CAC Canvas (CC073)

Thanks for coming by,

Inspired By France Papillon

This week the Paper Artsy blog welcomes France Papillon for some inspiration. I really wanted to make a spool key ring but could I find a suitable spool... I will keep that idea in mind, but in the meantime I had a go at France's journal cover.

This will not be a cover, but a page inside my samples book, so I made a number of adjustments to make it functional. For instance I have flipped the position of the vellum and didn't stitch the top to create a pocket. The string between the brads will also help keeping pieces of paper on the page, a thin elastic would be ideal.
The vellum is an old piece of printed envelope liner, hence the shape, and I used some scraps of handmade paper, yeah using up some old stash !
For the words, I used bits from the Eclectica Lin Brown 3 set, which I won last week - thank you Paper Artsy - as I haven't had time to play with it yet but still HAD to crack it open...

Thanks for coming by,

In bloom

For this card my first decision was to select a stamp set that came with a magazine which I had not used so far - this is part of my crafting resolutions for this year : use things !!!
I realised quickly that I would need a background and, as I wasn't confident I could colour it with alcohol markers,  I settled on watercolours.

I stamped the clear stamps with Memento London Fog and applied masking fluid before painting the background and over-stamping with some wild grasses stamps inked with markers.
I removed the masking fluid and watercoloured the flowers, using pencils where the brush was too big. I stamped some words as a kind of frame for my miniature painting.
Note: Not sure the whole masking thing was necessary, because against expectations, the Memento ink did not budge at all when I painted over it.

Finally this was my opportunity to place a fence die-cut that so far I haven't used very much, but is entirely appropriate on this occasion, playing with embossing powders mixes to get an aged look.

 

I am entering this card in the Country View Craft's challenge: How does your garden grow ?and the Artistic Stamper's which is all about Words.

Hope you will like this project,

Inspired By Sue Carrington

Paper Artsy Blog welcomes a new set of designer guests and Sue is the first. I have taken inspiration from her canvas (here) to create a new page for my samples book. Not quite as big as Sue's canvas, plus it needs to lay flat so no embellishments... therefore I had to adapt !

 

Both for the texture paste and stencilled areas I have used home made stencils. Loved to use the "bump" technique ! I became unstuck for stamps (need more texture stamps and some of those Eclectica stamps) and settled for a Newspaper print (Hot pick 1207), a saying (Hot pick 1203) and a Wallpaper print from an old clear stamp set. No treasure gold (as yet) so I used wax crayon to highlight the raised parts.

 

Thanks for coming by,

Inspired By Suzanne Czosek (2)

This week's inspiration is provided by Suzanne Czosek at the Paper Artsy blog. I followed quite closely her process for my project - see her post here .

And Suzz is completely right, the embossing powder (holographic) gives an incredible shine !!!

Of course I substituted a few things to products I atually own, so I used a dress form die-cut instead of a butterfly and adapted my frame to fit the shape (no longer square).
Instead of Chocolate Pudding I used Claret Fresco paint as this is one of my latest colour (thanks to my win last week!!!) and I just had to try it. It didn't disappoint, I love the translucency of it.
I used a silver organza ribbon coloured with Fresco South Pacific in place of tulle.
I used Aged Aqua (Frantage) embossing powder on my background - sadly forgetting to use the Limelight Fresco instead of Versamark. On my textured canvas, I think the Fresco would have grabbed more powder for a better effect.

I have enjoyed both the process and the result, the colours and shine are just gorgeous, plus I love working with metal and metal card.

Thanks for coming by,

Spring in Fashion

This is the theme of the Crafty Individuals challenge. My initial idea - shabby chic, lots of layers, lace etc... got lost in the process, as it usually does, since although it is a style I love, I seem incapable of seeing it through and get an overriding feeling of  "Stop you're going to spoil it !"

Instead, I imagined the lady (a snippet from CI 285) window shopping and looking at the new fashion in a boutique. I set about recreating the scene and this is the result.

I didn't put a background behind the lady because I wasn't sure I could make the perspective work. I inked the stamp with water based markers and colored the face, hands and feet with Promarkers.
For my "shop" panel I stamped repeatedly a border stamp (My Mind's Eye) as this was the only motif small enough to say "wallpaper". I used the ruler and spool stamps (CI 328) and several die-cuts (X-Cut). The dress is cut out from the CI Seaside paper book.

On the dyed lace, threaded with thin ribbon I added a button stamped with the leaf motif from CI 342.

I would love to hear what you think !

Vintage scrapbook page, texture and bright colours - facing page

Here is the facing page of the layout previously published here.
It's an opportunity to have another stab at the texture paste technique which I am loving at the moment.

As before, I applied the paste around the patterned paper and printed various stamps into it - tip : let the paste dry a bit, otherwise when the stamp is lifted, so is the paste - Then I coloured it with mists.

I used the chipboards and die-cuts that came with the kit, including the tag that contains the journalling. This is why the tag is tucked behind the armchair, since it isn't actually stuck, so that it can be removed to be read ! Once in the page protector, it shouldn't move.

I feel the left handside is a bit bare but I didn't like to cover the texture and didn't know how to fill it in without making it too busy.

I am entering the layout in the Artistic Stamper challenge.

Thanks for coming by,

Inspired By Linda Caine (3)

Linda is returning to the Paper Arsty blog this week, and I have been inpired by her colourful tag. Never made one before...
Along the way I encountered some difficulties, some caused by the lack of crafting items (you wouldn't know by looking at my stash !) and some err... self inflicted !

I didn't have an appropriate stamp for impressing in the texture paste so I used an embossing folder instead. It was too soon... I decided to use the small "4" stamp from Hot Picks 1206 on the left of the tag. That was too late ! The impression is so faint it is hardly visible.
For my pediments, I used a Spellbinder Nestie and cut into it with the tip of a flourish die (twice). I tried Linda's technique and stamped into the paint but... maybe I didn't have enough paint on, or the card was too absorbent, but the stamp didn't lift the colour. I tried again without success, so went on to the next step and stamped some lettering in black ink.

For my "plaquette" I used a small nestie, rub ons and glossy accents.

As per Linda's project, I stamped the main image in Archival and embossed. Maybe I wasn't quick enough or the powder I used (Antiquities Crystal) works differently than usual powders but the embossing is really patchy. Still the powder is my latest purchase and I wanted to try it ! I coloured the image with distress inks using Cut & Dry (no suitable markers).

This was a very good exercise and I learnt plenty, so better results next time !

Have you successfully embossed with Archival Inks ? If so any tips ?

Vintage Scrapbook page, texture and bright colours

So far in my vintage album, I have used subdued colours using an old patterned paper pack that cries "vintage". This time I wanted to use a paper from a card kit I got last year as a gift. With the paper also came a number of chipboard pieces, which is not something I use very often so I thought I would try to use as many as possible.
First I had to address the problem of fitting an A4 paper on a 12x12 layout...
To create a seamless page I applied texture paste around the glued patterned paper and stamped into it with various stamps. I then sprayed the paste with colours to match.

I love the look even though the process warped my 12x12 base quite a bit !

To finish I created butterflies with a layer of stamped paper and a layer of patterned vellum die-cut with an Impression Obsession die, a scrap of ribbon and a title made of 2 kinds of letter stickers which I coloured to match the page and each other. I also stamped the chandelier that came with the kit using black ink. The kit also contains lace,ribbon and gems but I didn't want to cover anymore of that delicious texture so I let it be.
I am planning to do a matching page with the second paper using the same technique and the journalling will be on that page.

I am entering this layout in the Artistic Stamper challenge which is all about texture and the Country View Crafts' challenge which request butterflies.

Hope you'll enjoy that one as much as I did making it. Stay tuned for page 2...

Blog candy... Infiniment Scrap

Youpi un blog candy ! Lisez ci-dessous ou allez voir ici sur le blog d'Infiniment Scrap leur annoncement pour la nouvelle boutique Infinimentscrap Design.



***********************

Bonjour à toutes et tous,

 l'occasion de l'ouverture de la nouvelle boutique Infinimentscrap Design j'organise un blog candy

Je vous propose 3 prix mais pour être sûr de vous faire plaisir ca sera des codes cadeaux, vous pourrez ainsi choisir ce qui vous plaît surtout que très prochainement il va y avoir les nouveautés que vous attendez impatiemment n'est ce pas ?

1 code cadeau de 50 euros à dépenser sur la boutique

1 code cadeau de 30 euros à dépenser sur la boutique

1 code cadeau de 15 euros à dépenser sur la boutique

Pour participer il vous suffit de :

Recopier ce message en entier de le poster sur votre blog sans oublier d'y mettre LE LIEN vers la NOUVELLE BOUTIQUE Infinimentscrap Design

Vous pouvez aussi bien sûr le poster sur vos compte facebook ou tweeter l'important c'est de passer le message et de mettre le lien direct de la nouvelle boutique.

Laissez ensuite un commentaire à la suite de ce message en mettant bien le lien du post sur votre blog

Délai pour la participation : 30 avril 2013 minuit

Le résultat sera donné ici sur le blog le 2 mai en même temps que les résultats des challenges

A très bientôt

Isabelle

*********************************

N'hesitez pas... tenter votre chance !