Fall Fashion

Crafty Individuals challenged us to create something about Autumn fashion. Rather than "Autumn" I was inspired by the American "Fall", as I was imagining a dress of multi-coloured leaves.

And since there is no fashion without sewing, I created a scene with my many sewing themed dies and stamps.

I did the background with a first layer of white paint and to allow me complete freedom to soften or even remove this layer I used gouache. On top I used Inktense and other watercolour crayons, finishing by a liberal spray of Lime coloured mica mist.

The stamps are from CI set 238, the dies Joy Craft (Leaves) and X-Cut (Sewing). I also used an embossing punch by X-Cut (Oak leaf).

All the leaves were coated with Versamark before I applied mica powders (Imagination Crafts).

I am also entering the Imagination Crafts (Create a scene) and Artful Times (sewing) challenges.

I stand by my dress concept (although come the winter it might prove inadequate) but I am not sure about the background or the design. Don't hesitate to tell me if you see something that doesn't work!

Humoristic

A very quick post with a fairly quick card for Fashionable Stamping who wants us us to make them laugh. Hmm... don't know about laughing but this stamp certainly raises a smile every time I see it.

The stamp is by Impression Obsession (Pig Bros. Birdhouse) and I stamped it using pens to ink it up.

Hope you'll like it,

The thing is...

Thing is my word choice for the Craft Barn quote challenge, and I kept it simple with a quote from Bonaparte.

For the background I wanted to play with alcohol inks and play I did, with 3 bright colours (Lettuce, Cranberry and Stream from Ranger). I wanted to evoke the colours of summer and yes it was bright but... it looked awful. I decided to proceed with my next step before throwing it in the bin and stencilled (Prima Doily) with Sparkle Medium in Jade (Imagination Crafts). Still awful... I tried toning it down with white paint and it's better, not great, and as a consequence the Sparkle is not so sparkly! You'll also notice that the white paint is pinkish, yes the Cranberry managed to seep into the paint when the other 2 colours stayed put. Go figure...

My next problem was the ink I used to pen the quote, it's supposed to be dark red and now it's more light red. Something to do with the bottle sitting unattended for yonks?

Anyway....

I am also entering the Pan Pastel UK and Bunny Zoe Crafts challenges.

Thanks for coming by,

Double scoop of embossing

As I am translating this post, I will be brief. Don't hesitate to ask if you want details...

Ce post est plus succinct que d'habitude, du à la traduction. N'hésitez pas à demander si vous voulez des détails.
Katzelkraft nous challenge à utiliser une méthode de gaufrage. J'aime les deux méthodes alors j'ai mis le paquet et je les ai employées toutes les deux sur cette création!

Katzelkraft challenges us to use embossing so I decided to throw both dry and wet embossing at my make, as I love them both equally!

Stamp/Tampon: from KTZ86 a set of lovely vintage vehicles
Folder/Dossier: Tim Holtz Alterations Texture Fades - Bricked
EP/Poudre a embosser: Ranger Antiquities - Frosted Crystal
Stencil/Pochoir: The Crafters Workshop - Gears
Inks/Encres: Versafine, Distress Inks

Other challenges/Autres challenges:
WOW Embossing powder; That's Crafty

Merci de votre visite / thanks for coming by,

Journal Page with metal

I enjoyed the experience so much last month that I am attempting Darcy's Journal Page challenge again.

To read about the process visit Darcy's post, I will describe here where I diverged.

I am not great on words and quotes so I replaced the words by DIY washi tape.

I didn't seem to have as much space on my pages so I haven't managed to fit in all the circles but used some of the leftovers to cover 2 corners that failed to mitre correctly!

For the background I used a text stamp from my own collection, a texture stamp from Kaisercraft and one from EEV06 instead of the new stamps that Darcy teased us with but didn't reveal...
With no appropriate size text stamp for the circles, I used a canvas texture stamp instead (Impression Obsession).

For space reason I didn't add the sunburst motif and added a small heart die-cut instead of the big heart duo image Darcy used.

On the right hand page I used stamps from HP1206 and chose my aperture shapes accordingly.

I particularly enjoyed the metal work, as it's so easy with folders to obtain a lovely texture. The butterfly was a bit more difficult to handle what with working from the back but still OK.

Phew! a lot of work involved but I am so glad I made it and learned a few things a long the way.

Thanks for coming by,

Kinetic

This is the challenge proposed by Artful Times.... Definitely a challenge for me and my creation gave me serious headaches...

I attempted a pop-up card but I had no template. After several goes, it looked as I wanted it to look but then... when I closed it, my pop-up elements peeked out of the folded card significantly! I just added 2 pieces of cardstock to extend the original card and the finished card is  now roughly 8"x8" instead of A5.

As well as being large, the finished project is quite thick so I created a band to hold the card closed with a piece of ribbon and a slider made out of shrink plastic.

The stamps used are all from Paper Artsy Hot pick 1208, the patterned paper a magazine freebie.

Now for the kinetic part, drum roll...

Tada!
The London landscape has been die-cut out of Core'dination cardstock with X-Cut dies. Each die-cut is stuck on its own step, spaced by 1.5 cm. I stamped on the back page and added a die-cut for the sentiment.
The embellishments are also die-cut with the same X-Cut set.

A closer look:

With hindsight, I should have taken a side view and waited for daylight to give you better pictures!

Thanks for coming by,

Celebrate CAS style

Men.... what theme can you use for them? Running out of ideas I went straight to the point with this card! Well, My Mum's Craft shop wants to see some CAS for their challenge, CAS it is...

I used 2 dies, both from Papertrey Ink, and the inlay method which I have admired and never tried before. The inlaid Happy is die-cut from freebie papers (Home Grown by HOTP from an issue of Simply Cards & Papercraft).
The only difficulty is in sticking back the minute negative pieces (e.g the inside of the b, d etc..) into their proper place otherwise it's an easy technique.

Not particularly exciting but I doubt it will make much difference to the MAN...

I am also entering the We Do Doobadoo challenge.

Thanks for coming by,

Summer Play

Oh no... Fashionable Stamping challenges us with the theme Child's Play...hmm time to look through the freebie stamps from magazines, and lo and behold a never inked Holly Hobbie stamp set surfaces.

These are acrylic stamps (as opposed to polymer) and usually don't take dye ink very well. Since I don't use them often, if at all, I now take my sanding block to them and they work a lot better. Don't rub to hard, if unsure, test and sand again. When I started the practice I used such a superfine grit (800) that it didn't make a difference.

Anyway... since this is not a style I undertake very often I figured I needed to use some patterned paper and cardstock from the least used stash area which goes some way to explain my colour scheme. Sorry if you need shades to have a look!

The image has been stamped with Versafine so I couldn't use the alcohol markers as initially planned (doh!) and coloured with pencils instead. I must be the only stamper without a standard black dye inkpad!
The fence die-cut has been embossed with a wood grain motif (Sizzix by Tim Holtz) and inked with Distress ink.
I am also entering the Pan Pastel UK Summer Fun challenge.

When in Blogger I have a tendency to go straight to the posts so have overlooked that I have 4 additional followers since June. Don't you wish Blogger would send you an alert?

I am humbled that you enjoy my projects and I take your following as sign my craft is improving, which is a great encouragement!

So a warm welcome to my new followers, and many thanks to my existing followers for their loyal support,

Mind and Ignorance

Something to do with the sunny weather I guess, I fancy bright, clean colours at the moment, rather than subtle, vintage or steampunk hues...

I couldn't think of anything relevant to illustrate the word "Ignorance" or the quote I have chosen for the Craft Barn challenge, so I indulged myself by using my favourite colours of Neocolors and my latest embossing folder, as yet unused.

I first scribbled the Neocolors on the card then softened with lightly wet brush.
With the card dry to the touch, but still damp, I embossed it with a TH folder and a Cuttlebug border folder.
When completely dry I rubbed the Neocolors on the raised areas.

The quote is handwritten on a die-cut label (Spellbinders), edged with silver gel pen the only embellishment I allowed in order to show as much of the background as possible.

I am also entering the Country View Crafts - Word play and  Ladybug Crafts - Favourite colours challenges.

Thanks for coming by,

Summer Seaside Tag

Just  in time to coincide with the heat wave in the UK, Fashionable Stamping challenges us to dream about summer and The Artistic Stamper about the Seaside. What could be more refreshing than splashing among the waves... I decided to make a tag as this is the challenge at Artful Times.

To plagiarise a football related phrase, this is a tag of 2 halves! (If you're not familiar with it original expression and explanations here).

When I started, I intended to apply colour all over the tag, but I needed to stamp my main image first so I knew where my sea was. Then I masked it so it didn't get colours where I didn't want it...
I was left with the raw cardboard and this where I changed direction... Well, I didn't know if it worked or not but there were a number of areas that I particularly liked so I didn't change anything :

The area of dark Indigo on top of white acrylic and Kraft made me think about a deep refreshing pool.              >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>







/\
The stamped tissue paper showing a little bit of the colour underneath and disappearing with its feathered edges into the background.

Pencil colouring on Kraft (I have been meaning to try this and finally I did!)

Also, to my great satisfaction,  I have used scraps, recycled items and used some unloved flower embellishments ( I altered them first!) as well as some new stash (the ribbon bunting).

Stamps used:
Crafty Individuals: CI-284 - Main image
Artistic Stamper: Calligraphic Mat 13 - in sepia ink in the background
Paper Artsy : EEV06 - background and, ESN07 collaged tissue paper

I guess I'd better show you the tag now, if you're still reading!

Good or bad let me know what you think, as I am clearly not objective!

Textural Journal page

This is my first time page for Darcy's Journal challenge on the Paper Artsy blog and, although time consuming, this piece really spoke to me (I think it said dare you...)

So I followed Darcy's instructions to the best of my abilities and availability of supplies and this is the result:

For the master board I used the ELB02 set and a script stamp.
I drew my own flowers (no stencil) with a black waxy pencil and applied black paint with corrugated cardboard to make the lines at the bottom edge.

I would never have chosen the colours, or attempted the graphic look without a push so I am quite pleased I have completed this page.

I am also entering My mum's Craft Shop and Ladybug Crafts challenges.

Thanks for coming by,

Imagination and logic

I had found the perfect quote for the Craft Barn challenge, one that included both words, by Albert Einstein : Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.
I already had it planned... a path from "A" to "B" with the letters from logic and the word imagination meandering all over the page.
But... it had been used by Pauline on the sample projects so I found another which I quite like too!

The canvas idea is translated by the use of canvas as a base for my page, very literal you say... ahem... I was kind of hoping I would provide the imagination but that isn't my strong point!

I created a background by colouring through 3 different stencils, then stamped my World map with Versafine. Since I had used a water-soluble medium, I could tone down the stencilled colours over the map by re-wetting and lifting up with kitchen roll.

I then coloured the map with India ink (Pitt pens) to make it more prominent.

 

To finish I hand wrote and stamped my quote.

 

This heat wave is not very conducive to crafting so keep cool and carry on creating!