CAS Magenta Stencil

Today's card is plan B, so much so that it doesn't bear any resemblance to what I tried to make the first time! I would show you but it's so bad I can't face it...

I got inspiration from the Stamplorations CAS challenge and Simon Says Stamps to design my card and although it looks simple and is easy to make it took me a long time coming up with an arrangement I was happy with. I still don't know if it's "right" or not !

I used watercolour card as my base and stencilled what I think looks like Magenta ink (TCW Mini Ledger).
I added a sentiment (Papertrey ink - Delightful Dahlia Additions) embossed with green embossing powder (Olive by WOW Embossing powder).
My embellishment is made up of a Marianne Design flower, die-cut out of felt, and a brad all of it retrieved from the furthest confines of my stash and very nearly forgotten.

And before you leave, can I remind you there is a special Anniversary Blog hop going on at Country View Challenges where a Sizzix Big shot and Die Bundle is up for grabs. Read all the details here you still have a week to enter!
Entering the Allsorts, SSS Monday, SSS Wednesday, WOW Embossing powder and Casology challenges.

Monoprints

Paper Artsy challenged us to do some monoprints this fortnight.

As luck would have it I tried this on the very first warm day of the year and the paint kept drying out on me...  I got these (lacklustre) results:

Not great....




Although I quite liked this one as it reminded me of a sunset scene over London or Venice maybe. A great starting point if I could paint better...






Then there was this one, which may have some potential...


And finally the one I chose for today's project:




The tools I used to make marks were all found in the kitchen.... a cork, a fancy bottle top, and a receptacle that comes with the washing powder.
I added the yellow circles with a Circle stencil (Tando - Random circles) and coloured embossing paste.

To finish the page I added stamps from the Paper Artsy 1601 and journaling stamps from Prima.

I didn't have time to play more but this has certainly given me a taste for monoprints... I am considering getting a Gelli plate or maybe trying that DIY recipe!
Thanks for coming by,
Also entering the SSS Wednesday, We Love to Create and SSS Monday challenges

A Dragonfly's Journey

Another fortnight has gone by and it's time for the Craft Barn dictionary challenge. The letter is J with a twist... we need to have a dragonfly somewhere!
J was easy, I could have done Jalopy or Jazz but could I combine those with a dragonfly, nope...

In the end it's the Crafty Individuals challenge that provided me with a reasonable solution. Jean mentioned old favourites and I had decided to use the Crafty Individuals CI-001 stamp, a postmark stamp with a dragonfly, which is their first stamp and part of their logo. 
Postmark = travel, add voyage tags... you get Journey!

I first stamped 2 of the tags from CI-428 It's a man's world with Versarmark and embossed with detailed black EP. I masked them with masking fluid before stamping CI-001 in Versafine black.


I made a feature of the pesky dragonfly with a bit of blue watercolour pencil and some sparkle (Spica pen in clear) and embossed it in clear EP using a brush to apply the embossing ink (I have a refill bottle).

For colours I splashed some water and some Violet Storms and Golden Sands Infusion (Paper Artsy).

Lastly I added the dictionary definition and letter (old cheapo acrylic stamp set) to my page.

Thanks for coming by,
Also entering the Stamplorations, Fashionable Stamping, Stamping Sensations  and WOW embossing powders challenges

Botanicals

I love this month Rubber Dance's challenge colour scheme, perfect for a Vintage feel and my choice of stamp, one of the images from the Antique Botanicals set designed by Katy Leitch for Rubber Dance.

My make is being shown off on the Rubber Dance blog as I am honoured to be guesting again!

The background is a 6x6 paper from a Melissa Frances pad, which I have distressed with ink and stamped with portions of the text image from the Collage Mix plate.

I colour matched a white doily (well half a doily!) using Distress inks to the blue of the challenge.

Embellishments:
A piece of vellum (Lakeland I believe-yes THAT old!), a piece of muslin, a piece of ribbon, a wood impression button (Trimcrafts Curiosity Corner) and some die-cuts.

I stamped the Camellia and  the small flower with Walnut Distress ink, after eliminating the Versafine in Sepia for lack of oomph. --- I do wish Versafine would come up with a dark brown!---

Anyway... Distress ink is not the best for detailed stamps so I was quite happy with the results, as the impression is still very good despite using Distress.

I used coloured pencils (Derwent) on the Camellia.

I decided I wanted to have some vellum (love the stuff, have loads but hardly use it) and cut a fishtail banner to place underneath my image.

Finally I decided to machine stitch a few elements in place and add a stitched border for extra interest.

I do hope you will like my card and are inspired to join the challenge at Rubber Dance.

Thanks for coming by,
  I am entering my card in the Penny Black and more, Stamping Sensations and Live & Love Crafts challenges

Just add shine!

Today I am back on the Country View Challenges blog for a second Stencil inspiration piece .
Look at the shine on this... lots of mica involved!

My previous creation was made with lots of DIY stencils but for this one I have only used bought ones.

As a test, I made a rubbing with an orange wax crayon to create a resist for the later stages. Orange I hear you say...in my defence this is all that is left after being kid-handled...	Then I used the stencils with sprays	I am mixing brands and the design you see here is technically a mask, not a stencil!

After drying the sprays I moved on to inks, Distress for darks and white pigment for lights.	Lastly, I used a stencil with coloured texture paste. It looks grey when wet but it dries dark grey, very close to black.	For the finishing touch I used Treasure Gold in White Fire, Amethyst and Onyxite on the raised texture.

I added the Finnabair figure (Prima) as a focal image, stamped on mulberry paper, I darkened the borders with a black pencil, added butterflies (Calico Crafts), a piece of muslin and mounted the whole thing on a sturdy piece of cardboard to flatten it.

I do hope I inspired you to dust off these stencils and maybe try a new technique/media with them! Come and show us at Country View Challenges for a chance to win a £ 20 voucher.

Thanks for coming by,
Also entering That's Crafty, Stamplorations and We Love To Create challenge

Layered Stencil

Today we are kicking off the new challenge at Country View Challenges with the theme of Use a Stencil.

Also, alongside our Challenge, we are running a Blog Hop with a Sizzix Big Shot Machine & Die Bundle as the prize. To enter, you must be a Follower of our Challenge Blog and Hop along to each of our Design Team Members Blogs and leave a comment. We will still be running our normal monthly challenge and those who link their Use A Stencil projects will also be entered into our £20 Voucher draw. The Winners will be picked at random in early June.

I am first in the hop
Christine   ------> You are here!
Gabrielle
Jennie
Rachel
Sue
Evelyn
Doreen
Nikki
Monika
Hazel
Brenda
Corrie
Jane

Lots of possibilities with stencils and, for this first project, I wanted to use "flat" techniques with the stencils. [It turns out later that I couldn't resist a bit of dimension..]

You can use stencil as a resist with a variety of mediums that all work in a different manner.
Here I have chosen Gesso and MicroGlaze (now available from Rangers as Distress Glaze).

Gesso gets slightly tinted by the dyes in the sprays whilst the MicroGlaze is totally impervious to wet media... on top. I did get some staining from underneath however, as my tag got wet through!

So it looks distressed... let's call it a happy accident and carry on...

For sprays I used all different brands as I have been buying one bottle every time a new brand comes along in order to find the Holy Grail (the fine spray bottle that doesn't not clog even with micas). If you're wondering,  I do have a promising lead but have to play test some more.

Both of the stencils used for resist have been die-cut with thin dies using junk mail.
The Harlequin is the Tim Holtz Mixed Media 1 and I was lucky to manage cutting this recycled plastic. Generally plastic yields to the pressure of the dies, indenting the material, but not cutting it through.

After the sprays were thoroughly dried, I used stencils with Distress inks. That's when I decided to stencil my London skyline (also recycled junk mail) with texture paste rather than inks. For good measure I then stamped into it before it dried completely.
I won't tell you how long to wait because it depends on so many factors, I haven't worked it out for myself! The trick is to create a test area of the same thickness on a piece of scrap paper to test when it's ready.

I painted the city in black and used Treasure gold in Amethyst (Paper Arty) to pick out the details, then decided to stamp a few things in black ink on the tag itself and a quote on a piece of card.
Quote and compass are Rubber Dance stamps, the cities borders are from Flonzcraft.

In this photo you can see how shiny the micas are, and reflect the light intensely compared to the Treasure gold.

The final touch is an arrow (Tando Creative) which, although made of fairly thick chipboard), can be embossed in a standard embossing folder. After embossing I pressed the arrow into my black dye inkpad and when dry I brushed Tresor gold in Amethyst and White Fire.







I hope you like my tag and that you will try out these, or one of the many stencil techniques available. Come and join the Country View Challenges with your stencilled makes.

Don't forget to leave a comment below before visiting my teammate Gabrielle for your next stop on our hop!

  I am entering the tag in the SSS Wednesday Challenge and Tando Creative challenge.

Sea, Sand & Sun

Before getting down to the business of crafting, a word on commenting. I try and visit the blogs of those entering the Dictionary challenge and those fellow bloggers leaving comments on mine, but if your blog settings restrict commenters to Google + members then I can't do it.
I already have more ID's that I can remember passwords for and I'm not a great user of social media and if your entry is on Facebook, Instagram etc... I won't be able to comment either.

So don't think I'm ignoring you...

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



After all the Spring makes, I am allowing myself a burst of summer feeling for the Craft Barn dictionary challenge. They gave the letter S and for a twist we have to include a shell. I thought of seashells and went in full beach mode! All I could think about is the famous song by Serge Gainsbourg with three S, and with the tune firmly ensconced in my brain, I had a vision.... Yes I knew I had the perfect stamps in my stash!

The post title was an obvious choice although I tweaked it a little...

In the foreground, I stamped a shell from the Paper Artsy set HP1111, inked with water based pens. The textured watercolour paper hides a lot of the detail from the stamp but I needed a base that stood up to lots of water.
The letter S is from a cheapo acrylic set.
All the other stamps are from the Rubber Dance Retro Beach set, inked with black Versafine.

I wanted to participate in the Paper Artsy latest challenge, and trying to keep white space was the most challenging part of this make, since I was intent on using my latest toy, namely the Paper Artsy Infusions, here the Violet Storms.
Now these little bottles of powders should come with a warning and a mandatory viewing of this video! Remember that like Brushos, Bistres, Color Bursts etc... those fine powders are VERY fine. They can, and do, go airborne and fly far with a gust of air. And that includes gusts of air created by a spray of water!

To keep it all under control I first masked with masking fluid (drawing gum, liquid frisket) all the stamping, then applied the water and the Infusion on top. Maybe a bit dark for the sea but I needed the contrast for the little boy.

Lots of you have been managing to include several other words with the same letter in your dictionary challenge pages and this is the first time I manage it... but today, with Serendipity on my side I had six! :))
Thanks for coming by,
Also entering the Stamploration challenge.

Butterfly Beauty

Warmer weather calls for butterflies doesn't it ! SSS Monday want to see butterflies and they are such a universal theme, for adults and children, men and women, that it's one of the best to use to make cards for the "just in case" stock.

I created a small masterboard, with several layers of paints (Fresco by Paper Artsy) on a textured paper designed for oil pastels. I don't paint much in oil pastels and as this paper stands up well to wet media and the texture is nice it makes sense to re-purpose it!

I stencilled some texture paste, tinted with South Pacific Fresco paint, with a Crafter's Workshop stencil.
At this point I decided the background was too dark and added more paint in lighter shades.
I stamped a script stamp with white paint (Crafty Individuals CI-436) which yielded an imperfect distressed impression.

Finally the focal images were stamped, the butterflies from Crafty Individuals (CI-437)  which come as 2 steps images. I used black dye ink for the outlines and Fresco paints for the insides of the butterflies.

The sentiment is from the Rubber Dance Happy Birthday set, stamped with Versamark and embossed with detail white embossing powder.
Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the Penny Black and more,  WOW Embossing powders,  We Love To Create and Tando Creative challenges

Clean and green

Sometimes it's nice to make something CAS with lots of white space. It feels like a holiday, and allows going back to Mixed Media and messy art refreshed and renewed!

Paper Artsy challenged us to use some white space, which doesn't need to be white, just empty, and this is what I did:

I intended to try stamping a background with an acrylic bloc, ink and a spray of water.
After several tries, I came up with a plan B that afforded me much better control: I used the reverse of a rectangular shaped polymer stamp and didn't need the spray of water, the most uncontrollable aspect of the technique!
The focal image and the branches are from the Paper Artsy set (HP1008) and I stamped partially the collage image, selecting only the face.

I don't know how I managed to resist adding anything else !

Thanks for coming by,
Also entering That's Crafty,  Casology, Stamplorations and SSS Wednesday challenges

Spring flowers

For my second Spring inspiration piece for this month theme at Country View Challenges I wanted to use one of the rubber stamp set from Paper Artsy's latest release.

For the base, I used an 8x8 piece of cardboard coated with gesso.

The grass colour has been built with South Pacific, Yellow submarine and Limelight Fresco acrylic paints fading the colour upwards with water. The sky is Lavender Fresco also faded into nothing using water.

The stamping was all done with black dye ink and I used all of the stamps in the EKC02 set, bar the sentiments. I created some rough masks by stamping and cutting the bigger blooms on a scrap piece of paper in order to place them in the foreground.

I added colour with white gel pen and yellow to orange colour pencils.

I really enjoyed building my wild flower field and the EKC02 makes it easy, as the small individuals flowers and smaller stalks are great to fill in between the bigger blooms.

If you're inspired, you can enter your own Spring make in the Country View Challenge
Thanks for coming by,
  Also entering the We Love To Create, SSS Monday and Vintage Journey challenges with my Mixed Media make.

Dotty about flowers

Today I have another flower filled post for you. I am duty bound to enter the Indigo challenge this month to show off my stamps from the Colour me range, as I have been lucky to win a prize !

I did lots of experiments with the stamps and, although I won't show you everything today, I'll reveal that the flowers look really good with Brushos and micas powders as well as stamped with ink. Watercolour was a flop, but then, that's just likely to be my technique rather than the designs!  I haven't tried with embossing powders or... well, still lots to try yet!

Several stamps called for a multi-panel card, which is an excuse to use my Accordion die...


On the cover I used the Lily on glossy cardstock coloured with inks using foam applicators.

















The papers all come from magazines freebies, the polka dot paper is actually pink dots on a yellow background although under British weather it looks grey!


From left to right, the first panel, is the Daisy stamped with dye inks and coloured with pencils.


 
 
The second panel is the Dahlia but it is actually the reverse side, coloured with alcohol markers.

The third panel shows off the detail of the Daisy stamp, with dye inks on glossy cardstock.

The stamps are slightly bigger than shown here as I had to fit the square panels of my accordion pages and cut them down.


 This is what my alcohol markers panel looks like on the front compared to the reverse:
 
I don't know about you but I thought that pink was too aggressive  and when I saw the watercolour effect of the back... I just had to use it!

The clue in the name (Colour me) tells me these flower images would be perfect made into small colouring books for crafty friends!

Thanks for coming by,
  Also entering the Stamping Sensations, SSS Wednesday and Polka Doodle challenges.

Resistance

I'm always attracted to door stamps so when the D letter came up at the Craft Barn dictionary challenge this was a no-brainer...

Prompted by the Paper Artsy and the SSS Monday challenge, I used a resist technique with wax paper to create a wall around my door (I used a Crafty Individuals stamp as my Paper Artsy door was too big for my panel) . I embossed the wax paper with the Tim Holtz Brick wall folder then placed it over the card and, protecting the iron with scrap paper, ironed on the design.

Then it's just a matter of applying Distress inks with blending foam. Easy peasy...

For the "pink" twist I added my letter D in a salmon pink so it didn't jar too much with the earth colours of the picture.

Thanks for coming by,
  Also entering the Artistic Stamper challenge